ExxonMobil Chemical Company announced the environmental technology will enable ExxonMobil's planned chemical expansion at Baytown to operate within existing Texas permitted emission limits. The plans include a new multi-billion dollar world-scale steam cracker and expansion of premium polyethylene production at ExxonMobil's Baytown site. The facilities will produce premium polymers incorporating company advances that have reduced film thickness by 2% per year for the last 20 years.

ExxonMobil Chemical Company plans to expand the size of a plant complex under construction in Houston to accommodate the relocation of additional staff, and close the onetime Advanced Elastomer Systems site in Akron. ExxonMobil will close in two states, while others will relocate to the campus from two offices at the firm's Baytown, Texas, refinery complex outside of Houston. The Akron office once was the headquarters of the AES joint venture, and is located in a renovated former B.F. Goodrich building. AES employed 250 at that location when it opened. ExxonMobil also plans to close the Fairfax, Va., offices of ExxonMobil's Refining and Supply Co.; Research and Engineering Co.; and Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co. Employees will begin moving to the multiplant campus-located on 385 acres of company-owned land in Houston-beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2015. ExxonMobil had launched construction of the expansion project in 2011. Early site work includes construction of access roads and bridges, central utilities, computer support, and parking facilities. The campus will have multiple low-rise office buildings, laboratory, and conference and training centers, along with child care, a wellness center and other employee amenities.

ExxonMobil Chemical Company expanded its SpectraSyn Elite metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO) base stock portfolio with the introduction of a 65 cSt grade (at 100[deg]C), providing formulators more flexibility in developing advanced industrial and automotive lubricants. SpectraSyn Elite 65 mPAO is the industry's first 65 cSt mPAO grade and the second grade in the SpectraSyn Elite family, launched in 2010. Samples are immediately available with commercial quantities available for global supply in fourth quarter of 2012. With its improved viscosity index, SpectraSyn Elite 65 provides lubricant manufacturers with greater versatility to achieve low-temperature specifications than they can with a conventional high-viscosity (Hi-Vis) mid-range PAO. SpectraSyn Elite 65 mPAO blends well with conventional PAO products and mineral oil base stocks, providing opportunities to meet specifications over a broader temperature range while reducing traction coefficient for improved energy efficiency.