Up Close: Engineering resiliency into our operations
After construction of a facility, we monitor and manage ongoing facility integrity, for example through periodic checks on key aspects of the structures. In addition, we regularly participate with major engineering societies and industry groups to assess and update engineering standards to manage the risks of extreme weather. Once facilities are in operation, the risks of extreme weather are also addressed by disaster preparedness and response and business continuity planning. Detailed, well-practiced and continuously improved emergency response plans tailored to each facility help ExxonMobil prepare for extreme weather events. Regular emergency drills are practiced in partnership with appropriate government agencies to help ensure readiness and minimize the impacts of such events. While most scientists agree climate change could pose risks related to extreme weather, sea level rise, temperature extremes and precipitation changes, the limited scientific understanding of the likelihood, magnitude, frequency and geographic distribution of these events poses a challenge in facility planning. ExxonMobil’s comprehensive approach and established systems enable us to manage a wide variety of possible outcomes over the coming decades.
ExxonMobil operates facilities in a wide range of challenging physical environments across the globe, and has done so for many decades. Our extensive design, construction and operating experience provides us great familiarity with the risks associated with different physical environments. The company is aware of the risks posed by extreme weather events and recognizes the risks that climate change could potentially introduce for facilities exposed to changes in extreme weather events over the life of an investment. When considering weather-related risks, we evaluate the type and location of our current and planned facilities. As an example, offshore facilities could be impacted by changes in wave and wind intensity as well as by ice flow patterns, while onshore facilities could be vulnerable to sea level rise and changes in storm surge. In the Arctic, long-term changes in ice and permafrost could impact the design of structural foundations. Our facilities are designed, constructed and operated to withstand a variety of extreme climatic and other conditions, with safety factors built in to cover a number of engineering uncertainties, including those associated with wave, wind and current intensity, marine ice flow patterns, permafrost stability, storm surge magnitude, temperature extremes, extreme rain- fall events and earthquakes. Our consideration of changing weather conditions and inclusion of safety factors in design cover the engineering uncertainties that climate change and other events may potentially introduce.
ExxonMobil’s Arkutun-Dagi topside offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.
Managing climate change risks exxonmobil.com/citizenship
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