TechnipFMC is building a 250,000 barrel per day (bpd) expansion at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery, the company announced Jan. 31, two days after ExxonMobil said it had made its final investment decision on the expansion. The engineering, procurement and construction contract is worth between $500 million and $1 billion, Technip said in a press release.

“We are pleased to have been awarded this contract by our long-term client, Exxon Mobil,” Nello Uccelletti, president of TechnipFMC’s onshore/offshore business, said in the release. “We look forward to bringing our global project execution capabilities, extensive U.S. Gulf Coast execution experience and leadership in the refining sector to this significant refinery expansion project for Exxon Mobil.”

The company will add four units to the 366,000 bpd refinery that will allow the complex to process light crude oil from the Permian Basin. The expansion, expected to be complete in 2020, would allow the refinery to refine up to 616,000 bpd, making it the larger refinery in the nation, exceeding Motiva's 603,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. 

ExxonMobil says the expansion will create up to 1,850 construction jobs and is part of its previously announced 10-year, $20 billion “Growing the Gulf” initiative.