PROJECT
PROFILES

ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Polypropylene Line 1 Project

This project is unusual because of its large size and the fact that it was a team effort by a diverse group of ABC merit shop contractors who usually regard themselves as competitors. The project set records in safety, quality and productivity -- records that are benchmarks by which future projects will be judged. The project was a national runner-up for an ABC Eagle Award in 2000, and it won an ABC Pelican Chapter Excellence Award.

On March 30, 1998 Exxon Chemicals Americas awarded the M.W. Kellogg Company a lump-sum contract worth in excess of $100 million to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a 275,000-metric-ton polypropylene line with associated utilities and offsite facilities. Polypropylene is used to make products ranging from automotive bumpers to film for food packaging and fibers for disposable diapers.

Construction took place over a 19-month period in ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant (BRPO) in Baton Rouge Louisiana. System turnovers were staged over a 6-month period, and the project was successfully completed in March 2000. Mergers during the course of the project resulted in name changes to Kellogg Brown & Root and ExxonMobil Chemical.

Kellogg Brown & Root formed an alliance with three premier, Baton Rouge-based contractors to execute the work. The Construction Alliance Team, referred to as CAT, consisted of Basic Industries, Harmony Corporation, ISC and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR).

Basic Industries was responsible for painting, insulation and fireproofing, and scaffolding. Harmony Corporation installed structural steel, piping and equipment. ISC installed electrical systems and instrumentation, and KBR constructed foundations and paving.

The heart of the project was a new polymerization unit based on Montell’s Spheripol® technology, with a high-capacity, single-extruder finishing system and pellet-storage and blending facilities that significantly expanded the capacity of the Baton Rouge plant.

The project also included new rail-car systems for loading and shipping, and a new hopper-car wash/dry facility. New rail trackage was installed and integrated into existing lines for efficient hopper-car cleaning and loading.

Other significant installations included a new cooling water tower, an air compressor, a remote contingency flare, interconnecting wiring and communications, additions to the electrical distribution system, new instrument/electrical grounding systems and an underground fire-suppression system, plus interconnecting piping, site preparation, roadwork and final site drainage.

Go to page 2 of 2