Fuel Fix �» Exxon Mobil stays mum on report ofBeaumont refinery expansion

Posted on July 28, 2014. Many installed pumps were not originally specified for their presentfunction. Quite often, a line in a company is moved and the pump that at one time provided coolingwater to an injection molding machine is now needed to transfer oil from a rail car to a tank.Unfortunately, this leads to many problems for the pump and the company. Pumps operate wherethe pump curve crosses the system curve. When you move a pump from one system to another, thismeans that the system curve is different. This new system may cause the pump to operate away fromits best efficiency point, leading to shaft breakage and other component failures that are merelysymptoms of a mis-matched pump and system.at 12:26 pm by FuelFix.com in Refining

The Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

By Dan Wallach

BEAUMONT -- The Beaumont Exxon Mobil Corp. Expect that there are some basic adjustmentswhich may be added to a commercial

centrifugal or positive displacement pump. Regarding pumps that pump impeller types haveoverhung impellers, moving to a solid shaft is a basic refinement in relation to common sleevedshafts. Mechanical seals can be improved upon by using tungsten carbide faces, and elastomersshould be changed to EPDM. Finally, magnetic bearing protectors are certainly a huge stepupcompared to the lip seals which most water pumps depend on to maintain clean bearing sump oil.

refinery could expand to become the nation's largest, overtaking the xylem flygt repair kit MotivaEnterprises complex in Port Arthur refinery, according to a report on the Reuters international newswebsite.

Officials of the Irving-based oil giant declined to comment on the report.

Jim Rich, president of the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, said he'd heard about thepossibility of Exxon Mobil's expansion, but said he is unaware of any official advance work orrequests for information about tax abatements, a usual step that precedes major industrialinvestments.

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco, joint owners of Motiva, completed a $10 billion, 600,000-barrel-per-day expansion of the Port Arthur refinery in 2012, nearly doubling its capacity.

Reuters reported that Exxon Mobil's Beaumont refinery now has a capacity of 344,000 barrels perday and, if the expansion goes forward, could increase it with construction of a third distillation unit,potentially doubling its daily capacity.

Earlier in July, Exxon Mobil announced plans to invest $1 billion in expanding its Antwerp, Belgium,refinery.