ExxonMobil announced Wednesday that it will upgrade the base oil plant at its Baytown, Texas, refinery, giving it capacity to make 8,000 barrels per day of that grade in 2028.
The energy giant also indicated that the Baytown plant has already begun making Group III or that it soon will – presumably smaller amounts.
The 2028 upgrade would add to two other current projects dangling the prospect of an expanded Group III supply base in the United States, which for years has been a large importer of that grade.
Group III demand is rising due to rising standards for motor oils used in passenger car internal combustion engines as well as rising performance demands for other types of lubricants.
ExxonMobil has made a final investment decision on the 2028 upgrade, according to a news release issued Wednesday, but the company did not state the cost.
As far as Group III output before the project, the news release suggested availability of the grade is imminent, but it did not explicitly say if production has begun or how much is being or will be produced. “ExxonMobil is pleased to announce the introduction of its Group III base stock slate, which will include 4 and 6 cSt at 100°C base stocks to the North America market,” the news release stated.
Most companies that upgrade Group II plants to make Group III do so by installing additional equipment and/or technology – usually at significant cost. Technically most Group II plants are capable of making Group III by increasing the severity of refining, but this reduces yields more than operators are typically willing to tolerate.
There have been examples in the United States of plants going this route. In the early 2000s, Chevron’s Group II plant in Richmond, California, altered processes to give it capacity to make 4,000 b/d of Group III, according to Lubes’n’Greases’ Base Stock Plant Data. After a few years the plant reverted to just Group II production until 2021. It currently has capacity to make 2,500 b/d of Group III, making it the largest Group III source in the U.S. Motiva announced some years later that it’s plant in Port Arthur, Texas, would start making Group III, but it is believed to make only small amounts.
Chevron has said it is upgrading its Pascagoula, Mississippi, Group II plant to make Group III base oils beginning next year, but it has not said what the Group III capacity will be. Canadian start-up Cerilon is working to develop a gas-to-liquids facility in North Dakota with capacity to make 5,800 b/d of Group III, but the project has not yet received a final investment decision.