as referenced in the 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report
Overview
At ExxonMobil, risks are mitigated with appropriate contingency planning and the application of a comprehensive risk management system. Business continuity planning and emergency preparedness are two essential elements to manage risk, so we can continue supplying fuels for transportation and electrical power as well as chemicals for consumer products, which are vital to the nation’s economy.
Global concern: With an increasing number of people living in coastal areas and critical infrastructure located along the Gulf Coast of the United States, the risks of casualties, property damage, and financial hardship are severe when hurricanes make landfall. In the event of an extreme weather event, our most important priority is to protect the safety and health of our workforce, their families, and our communities and to secure our operations to reduce potential impacts to the environment.
Our approach:
- Early and coordinated action to respond rapidly and effectively
- Availability of fuel supplies along evacuation routes and for emergency responders
- Business continuity and emergency response plans to protect the safety of our employees and operation
- Worse-case scenario emergency response exercises to practice coordination andlogistical response, and propose upgrades to standard processes and contingency plans
In 2005 and 2008, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike impacted coastal manufacturing facilities and offshore oil and gas production, resulting in equipment damage, operations interruptions, and supply chain disruptions. When these events occur, our focus is on two things: 1) safety of people and the environment and 2) maintaining critical fuel supplies.
Operational challenges. ExxonMobil has extensive operations along the Gulf Coast, across Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama, both on- and offshore. The Houston, Texas area alone is home to six headquarters of ExxonMobil’s operating companies and ExxonMobil’s largest employee population of approximately 16,000 employees and 5500 retirees.
Critical to our preparation and response is accurate tropical weather forecasting, including intensity, size, and potential hurricane landfall. Advanced weather information and forecasting tools allow for faster decision-making.
How ExxonMobil prepares and responds. All ExxonMobil operations, especially along the Gulf Coast, have extensive hurricane preparedness plans, which include procedures for preparation, response, and recovery. In 2005, following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we created a Regional Response Coordination Team to improve our ability to respond to significant events—such as hurricanes—impacting multiple business units at the same time. The Coordination Team was created to act as a focal point for approximately 20 ExxonMobil business units and functional emergency support groups. This ensures that common business needs—such as employee communications; human resources benefits; IT support; procurement of materials, supplies, and equipment; and interface with the local and state government— are communicated and managed jointly across multiple business units.
Hurricane preparedness planning is initiated prior to the start of hurricane season by updating response procedures, training personnel, and ongoing monitoring of hurricane activity. Within approximately 10 days of hurricane landfall, personnel and equipment preparations are started, including travel out of potentially impacted areas.
How we did. Prior to Hurricane Ike’s landfall on the Gulf Coast in 2008, we relocated response teams and critical personnel to alternate sites in north Texas, away from the directly impacted area. Three days ahead of hurricane landfall, approximately 60 staff had been relocated to our alternate office in Dallas, followed by nearly 500 critical business continuity staff, together with their families. We flew our offshore upstream operations crews to safety onshore and pre-positioned emergency generators to minimize power disruptions at critical operations such as pipelines, terminals, refineries, and identified service stations. We also stored crude oil, products, and lubricants at our refineries and terminals outside of impacted areas to sustain operations. Once the storm had passed, we followed recovery procedures, including return-to-work plans, which focused on arrangements for alternate employee workspace, support for critical operations, and damage assessments to initiate necessary repairs.
ExxonMobil’s preparation and response planning was executed through the operating organizations and the Coordination Team. As a result of our coordinated response effort, the majority of our operations were able to return to normal business operations within 10 days of hurricane landfall. However, our Beaumont Chemical plant experienced significant flooding due to the storm surge of Hurricane Ike, which delayed restart. Overall, our actions also minimized impacts to communities and maintained critical supplies.
Ongoing improvement plans. Based on our experience with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, we will continue to improve our business continuity and emergency response plans. Through ongoing training and enhancements to our recovery procedures, we are focused on safely and quickly resuming operations without disruptions to the supply of critical products and services during future extreme events. We will also continue to strengthen relationships with external groups, including state and federal governments, to expedite key response and recovery actions necessary to increase available fuel supplies during periods of shortfall.