Spill performance We implement preventive measures to avoid spills and continually seek to improve our risk management, operations integrity and containment capabilities. As a result of these efforts, we had fewer spills in 2015 compared with 2014. Over the past five years, we have reduced the number of spills greater than 1 barrel by more than 30 percent. If a spill does occur, we ensure a rapid, comprehensive response. The total volume of hydrocarbons spilled to soil and water was 10,800 barrels in 2015, and more than 55 percent was recovered at the spill sites. The majority of these spills did not affect third parties or the communities that surround our assets. In 2012, we started measuring significant spills to the environment (SSEs) across the corporation. SSEs are a subset of our overall spills, which we define as spills that have impacted or have the potential to impact surface water, groundwater, sensitive environments or communities. We had 11 SSEs in 2015, which represented approximately three percent of the total number of spills. Our largest SSE occurred when 10 U.S.-Midcontinent production facility tank releases occurred during a flooding event related to a tropical
Spills (not from marine vessels) 3 Number of oil, chemical and drilling fluid spills greater than 1 barrel
Number of spills of any fluid type that warrant greater focus Significant spills to the environment
2012
20
2006
295
2013
18
253
2007
2014
19
211
2008
2015
11
242
2009
In 2012, ExxonMobil began measuring significant spills to the environment (SSEs), the number of spills of any fluid type that warrant greater focus. In 2015, we had 11 SSEs, more than a 40 percent decrease from 2014.
210
2010
2011
484
356
2012
storm. Other SSEs that occurred were related to valve and flow line failures during normal operations. The findings from our SSEs have prompted further preventive work on facility integrity and reliability upgrades, as well as addressing human factor causal elements. We are increasing focus on learning from these spills to prevent their recurrence. ExxonMobil recognizes the potential risk for spills from marine vessels and we take a diligent approach to safe and environmentally responsible marine transportation. The worldwide marine business of ExxonMobil’s affiliates, which involves about 500 vessels in daily service, logged more than 21,500 voyages and 47,000 port calls in 2015, safely transporting approximately 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil and refined products. This year, ExxonMobil’s marine affiliate, SeaRiver Maritime Inc., placed the Eagle Bay, the second of its two new U.S. crude oil tankers, into service transporting crude oil from Alaska’s North Slope. This vessel incorporates the latest safety technologies and greatly reduces air emissions, which earned it the 2015 Green Ship Award from the Port of Long Beach . For additional information on our efforts to reduce air emissions in our operations, see page 53. In addition to marine transportation, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company transports approximately 2.6 million barrels of petroleum and chemical feedstocks and products through approximately 5,000 miles of active pipelines operated in the United States every day. We are committed to pipeline safety and carefully maintain and monitor our infrastructure to identify and prevent corrosion, third-party damage or illegal intrusions
330
2013
334
2014
2015
319
Spills to soil
Spills to water
In 2015, we had 319 oil, chemical and drilling fluid spills greater than 1 barrel (not from marine vessels), the majority of which were spills to soil. This number has decreased significantly over the past five years due to our relentless approach to operations integrity.
3 Includes XTO Energy data beginning in 2011.
onto our rights of way. We patrol our pipeline routes and monitor pipeline operations using state-of-the-art systems, alarms and other monitoring technologies. For more information on how we are managing products transported by rail, see page 22. Offshore oil spill response As part of ExxonMobil’s commitment to maintaining opera- tional excellence everywhere we work, we have developed specialized offshore spill response capabilities and tactics. We have the industry’s only dedicated, in-house oil spill response research program, which includes a focus on cold water and remote locations, such as the Arctic. ExxonMobil has participated in and provided technical lead- ership to several joint industry projects to enhance industry offshore spill response capability. These initiatives include the
Claire Madden, ExxonMobil manager of lubricants sales process and operations, celebrates at the christening ceremony for the Eagle Bay in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Environmental performance exxonmobil.com/citizenship
51
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