Chemical Week Magazine

1、附件：chemical week magazine : cover story june 27, 2007 exxonmobil chemical robert westervelt in houston exxonmobil chemical has been able to tap significant profit where most integrated oil majors have quit or stumbled by containing costs and exploiting the benefits of refinery and upstream integrati

2、on. “our strategies have not changed and theyre not unusual strategies,” says exxonmobil president michael dolan. “other companies say similar things. but what differentiates exxonmobil is how we execute.” those strategies include exploiting integration benefits with other exxonmobil operations, a f

3、ocus on operational excellence, disciplined investment, and technology leadership, dolan says. exxonmobil chemical profits hit a record $4.4 billion in 2006, up 10% from 2005. only sabic was more profitable among global chemical makers. chemical revenues overall advanced 13%, to $48.9 billion, inclu

4、ding intra-company transfers, placing it third globally behind dow chemical and basf. exxonmobil is planning a major petchem production expansion in asia and the mideast that will boost capacity there by more than 60% over the next few years. the company also plans to expand its specialty chemical b

5、usinesses, which accounts for 22% of capacity and is growing at twice the rate of its overall chemical business. “we have a very long-term focus,” dolan says. “we dont do anything because its trendy or even because it is timely. we do projects because they are advantaged and will make money for shar

6、eholders. we try to move quickly when that makes sense, or we can take our time to work through issues and problems to get the best result.” advantage can come in many forms, dolan says. “it could involve feedstock, scale, or a unique product slate.” he says. “we dont want to do the trendy me-too pr

7、ojects. our intention is always to run these plants for 50 years.” exxonmobil chemical makes up a fairly small part, 10%-15%, of overall exxonmobil revenues, but it plays a critical part in the companys strategy “to upgrade every molecule to the highest value.” about 90% of exxonmobils chemical prod

8、uction is integrated with refinery or upstream gas processing operations. “we make sure we do integration better than everyone else,” dolan says. “we work relentlessly to mine those synergies and make sure there are no fences between operations.” benefits from chemical and refinery integration and c

9、ost-savings generate $700 million/year in before-tax earnings for the company, exxonmobil says. a key driver is the effort to more efficiently manage feedstock streams across its refineries and chemical plants to realize the highest value. “in the last few years we have made great progress with our

10、molecule management programs,” dolan says. sophisticated modeling allows exxonmobil to “fingerprint” feedstocks to determine precise product yields and the impact each product will have on utilization and efficiency at its chemical plants and refineries. “at an integrated site like baytown, tx, you

11、can move feedstock between a refinery catalytic cracker or chemical steam cracker,” he says. “we can select on a day-by-day or cargo-by-cargo basis what to run,” he adds. “you cant do that unless you have chemical, refining, and supply personnel all working closely together.” cost advantage. exxonmo

12、bil says that its cracker feedstock cost advantage averages 20%, versus gas crackers in the u.s. and naphtha crackers elsewhere in the world. that advantage has boosted return on capital employed (roce) for its commodity business by 5 percentage points. exxonmobil says that 55% of its current ethyle

13、ne production is from “advantaged” feedstocks, and it is targeting growth in use of such feedstocks of 4%-5%/year. “for example, last year we qualified more than 100 new steam-cracking feedstocks of varying qualities from around the world to run in our plants,” says sherman glass, senior v.p. at exx

14、onmobil chemical. also, “produciblity” gains, or running plants with fewer interruptions, has added capacity equivalent to one-and-a-half world-scale crackers since 2001, the company says.strong industry conditions have lifted results for most companies, but exxonmobil has outpaced its peers. the co

15、mpanys roce improved 5.2 percentage points in 2006 to 33.2%, nearly 20 points higher than key competitors in the u.s. and europe. that is shy just two-tenths of a percentage point of the companys record set at the 1995 industry peak. exxonmobil has averaged 16% roce over the past 10 years. chemical

16、operations at traditional oil competitors chevrontexaco and shell averaged 5% roce over the past 10 years, and dow chemical has averaged 11%. “we are clearly leading competitors in roce, and have done so for the entire business cycle,” says j. stephen simon, senior v.p./downstream for exxon mobil co

17、rp. “with continued delivery of self-help improvements and technology advancements, coupled with the major growth opportunities we are pursuing, were well-positioned to extend our lead over competition.” exxonmobil chemical has reduced its workforce by about 12% over the past four years, which, when

18、 coupled with volume growth, equates to an overall improvement in productivity of about 17%. self-help improvements overall added about $500 million after-tax to last years bottom line in chemicals, exxonmobil says.“were quite proud of our 2006 result,” dolan says. “it was an earnings record and roc

19、e was almost equivalent to the previous industry peak in 1995. unfortunately, were one of the few chemical companies that can say that. it was an absolutely outstanding year.” strong industry conditions and the work on operational efficiency drove the strong performance, dolan says. “a lot of things

20、 came together in 2006,” he says. reliability and safety were at record levels, he adds. “if other competitors have plants down and youre still running, you make money,” dolan says. “the investments that we make in operational excellence across the cycle and advantages in size, scale, and reliabilit

21、y pay off when you get to a year like 2006.” dolan would not address the specific earnings targets for 2007, but says, “we do expect strong performance.” industry may be near a peak now, but dolan remains optimistic about prospects for the industry and exxonmobil. “the last four years have been unpr

22、ecedented,” he says. “weve had four very strong years for the big commodity products. that is something that hasnt happened before in my 30 years in the business. id have to say its the best of time for industry from a historical perspective.” the company is laying the foundation for continued growt

23、h, particularly in developing regions. exxonmobils capacity for basic petchems in asia and the mideast will swell by 60% to 8 million m.t./year over the next few years. over the next 10 years, 60% of petchem demand growth will occur in asia, with china alone accounting for one-third, the company say

24、s. “by 2015, at least 50% of chemical demand will come from asia,” dolan says. “well have at least that much of our capacity in asia and the mideast by then, if not a little more.”peak performance (in billions of dollars)* 2006 2005 200420032002revenues $48.9$43.1 $37.0 $26.8$21.6earnings 4.43.9 3.4

25、 1.40.8capital expenditures 0.80.7 0.7 0.71.0return on capital employed33.2%28% 23.5% 10.2%6.1%source: exxonmobil chemical (houston). the company has announced plans for major projects in china, qatar, saudi arabia, and singapore. exxonmobil operates joint ventures at jubail and yanbu, saudi arabia

26、with sabic, and the partners are eyeing a major expansion at the site. the expansion would add carbon black and a range of specialty plastics and rubbers in saudi arabia, including butyl polymers, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber, polybutadiene rubber (pbr), styrene butadiene rubber (sbr), an

27、d thermoplastic olefins (tpo). the plants would be the first in saudi arabia to make any of those products, and start up is expected in 2011. in qatar, exxonmobil and qatar petroleum are planning an ethane cracker with capacity for 1.3 million m.t./year of ethylene. downstream plants will have capac

28、ity for 570,000 m.t./year of linear low-density polyethylene (pe), 420,000 m.t./year of low-density pe, and 700,000 m.t./year of ethylene glycol. startup is scheduled for 2012. exxonmobil, saudi aramco, and sinopec have signed a contract for an estimated $3.8-billion for a refining and petchem jv at

29、 quanzhou, china, scheduled for startup in 2009. exxonmobil expects to make a final decision on a previously announced second singapore cracker this fall. the surge in production in higher-demand and lower-cost regions will cause north america to shift from a net exporter of chemicals to a net impor

30、ter by as early as the end of the decade, glass says. the americas currently account for 43% of the companys production volumes, europe and the mideast 29%, and asia 27%. “north america and europe may not have the feedstock advantage that we once had, but there is still growth in both markets,” dola

31、n says. “you dont want to grow faster than the overall market under these conditions, so you match operations to that environment.” growth opportunities in europe and north america remain, especially among specialty products, dolan says. “customers are responding to more challenging conditions in de

32、veloped regions by asking for more functionality in products,” dolan says. “we will focus on providing those premium products, operational excellence, and managing the integration benefit.” the company will invest in grassroots specialty plants in the europe and u.s., dolan says. it recently boosted

33、 production of synesstic alkylated naphthalene blendstocks by 40% through a debottlenecking project at its edison, nj specialty chemicals plant. the blendstocks are used in applications including lubricants for automotive engines and compressors, hydraulic fluids, and high-temperature greases. exxon

34、mobil says it will construct a facility to manufacture a specialty elastomer for tires at pensacola, fl, which will start up in early 2008. the plant will produce a dynamically vulcanized alloy (dva) based on the companys exxpro specialty elastomer and nylon technology. compared to the current halob

35、utyl inner liner, the exxpro-based alloy can improve the durability of tires, reduce weight, hydrocarbon-based raw materials, and fuel consumption, exxonmobil says. in europe, the company will add 27,000 m.t./year of pe and 700,000 m.t./year of hydrocarbon fluids in antwerp, and a plans an 18,000-m.

36、t./year expansion of adhesive resins capacity at its notre dame de gravenchon, france unit in 2008. “we dont fear the change in north america,” dolan says. “it happened in europe ten years ago when the region shifted to net importer from exporter. weve been down that road in europe and well go throu

37、gh that in the u.s., but well be one of the survivors. we have very strong assets.” exxonmobil continues to drive growth at its specialty and premium products businesses, which include leading global positions in butyl rubber, hydrocarbons fluids, oxo alcohols, specialty films, adhesives, and specia

38、lty elastomers. the companys metallocene-based resin production has grown 30%/year since 1998. the businesses, which currently account for about 20% of exxonmobil chemicals volume, provide a consistent earnings stream across the cycle to balance against its more volatile commodity businesses (chart,

39、 p. 19). specialty earnings were $930 million in 2006, a 26% advance from 2005. integration and discipline have long been a hallmark of exxonmobil, and the company has been able to translate that into top-tier operating and profit performance, analysts say. “exxonmobil is very well-integrated from t

40、he upstream wellhead through petrochemicals,” says peter spitz, a partner in consulting firm chemical advisory partners (scarsdale, ny). the company does “a much better job than anyone else working the petrochemical-refinery interface,” spitz says. that advantage allows exxonmobil to get the most va

41、lue from its feedstocks. refinery offgases and lower octane feedstocks can be converted to higher-value chemical products, analysts say. the company also remains focused on a core portfolio, spitz says. “exxonmobil is very disciplined,” he says. “it generally has not made acquisitions, and there hav

42、e been hardly any divestitures. it just grows with the portfolio that it has.” exxonmobil was also an early mover into saudi arabia in the mid-1980s, providing a well-positioned and extremely profitable mideast production base, spitz says. “both exxon and mobil went into the middle east very early a

43、nd in a bigger way than anyone else,” spitz says.exxonmobil has succeeded where other oil majors have stumbled by assembling a strong specialty chemicals unit, leading global positions in commodity chemicals, as well as strong productivity and efficiency gains, says john herrlin, oil industry analyst with merrill lynch (new york). “more importantly, exxonmobil is focused on growing capacity where its peers have retreated significantly, and it is getting involved in feedsto