By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp expects its motor fuels and chemical compounds earnings to achieve $16 billion by 2027, up about $4 billion from present ranges as demand continues to rise, executives mentioned on Wednesday.
The most important U.S. oil firm has been producing sturdy refining income this yr partially on a large growth of refining capability and deal with larger margin chemical compounds. Executives forecast gasoline demand is not going to peak till late this decade, a for much longer timeframe than different forecasters.
“Towards the tip of this decade we see gasoline demand peaking, however it will likely be a protracted plateau,” Exxon Senior Vice President Jack Williams mentioned at briefing at its Spring, Texas, headquarters.
Exxon mixed its as soon as separate chemical compounds and oil refining companies and redesigned operations to rapidly shift between fuels and chemical compounds primarily based on which delivers the best revenue.
Its fuels outlook differs from oil-consuming nations group Worldwide Power Company, which expects the usage of oil for transportation fuels to say no after 2026. U.S. gasoline use probably topped out in 2018, the U.S. authorities has mentioned.
Exxon’s merged refining, petrochemicals and low-carbon enterprise unit will trip market demand for every, mentioned Karen McKee, president of the Product Options unit.
“We have now the speculation this may very well be a sport changer for Exxon Mobil,” McKee mentioned.
Exxon’s (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery expanded by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January. The now-619,024 bpd facility processes crude from Exxon’s West Texas oilfields to primarily make diesel gas.
“It’s working extraordinarily effectively,” McKee mentioned.
As demand for gas wanes, the refineries will be capable of provide new markets with out one other refining growth, Williams mentioned.
“We’ll be upgrading models fairly rising our throughput,” he mentioned.
The corporate’s 564,440 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baytown, Texas refinery, which is co-located with a chemical unit, will permit it to evolve from primarily making fuels to chemical compounds, Williams mentioned.
“Refining’s not going to go away. (However) quite a lot of it will likely be towards chemical compounds,” he added.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba, modifying by Deepa Babington)
