Exxon Moving Headquarters To Houston As Part Of Restructuring Plan

U.S. energy supermajor ExxonMobil has announced it would be moving its headquarters from Irving, Texas, to a campus north of Houston as part of a larger restructuring of its business lines.

Effective April 1, the company will be organized along three business lines – ExxonMobil Upstream Company, ExxonMobil Product Solutions, and ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.

They will be supported by a single technology organization, ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering, and other centralized service-delivery groups providing like capabilities, building on the successful consolidation of major projects across the corporation in 2019.

“Our transformed business structure enables us to more fully leverage the corporation’s scale, integration, technology advantages, and the skills and capabilities of our talented workforce, to better serve our customers,” said Darren Woods, chairman and CEO.

“Aligning our businesses along market-focused value chains and centralizing service delivery, provides the flexibility to ensure our most capable resources are applied to the highest corporate priorities and positions us to deliver greater shareholder returns,” Woods added.

The second major change is the relocation of its corporate headquarters from Irving, Texas, to its campus north of Houston. The move, which will be completed mid-year 2023, will enable closer teamwork to accelerate and increase value delivery through company-wide approaches, Exxon explained.

“We greatly value our long history in Irving and appreciate the strong ties we have developed in the North Texas community. Closer collaboration and the new streamlined business model will enable the company to grow shareholder value and position ExxonMobil for success through the energy transition,” Woods claimed.

ExxonMobil spokesperson Meghan Macdonald told us that about 250 people currently work at our Irving location, including the CEO and the management committee.

According to Macdonald, Exxon wants to retain as many employees as possible, and the company has offered a relocation package to eligible employees to enable their move to Houston and that additional flexibility will be provided to accommodate employees with school-aged children or other personal circumstances. She further explained that this headquarters relocation will not result in significant job reduction.

Exxon made headlines in 1989 when it announced it would be moving its headquarters from Manhattan to Irving. Around 300 corporate jobs relocated to North Texas at the time. The supermajor sold the Exxon Building to a unit of Mitsui Real Estate Development in 1986 for $610 million.

The headquarters will now be again moving to a 385-acre campus in Spring that contains more than 10,000 Exxon employees. It is located about 25 miles from downtown Houston.

According to Exxon, the move is a further evolution of the company’s business model and part of its strategy to build globally competitive businesses that lead the industry in earnings and cash flow growth, operating performance, and the energy transition.

Exxon is on track to exceed $6 billion in structural cost savings by 2023, compared to 2019, driven by savings from the new business structure and measures such as centralizing procurement, digital transformation of processes, and right-sizing programs that were announced in 2020.

As for the new ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company, it will engineer, manufacture, and deliver products needed by modern society at an industry-leading scale, serving multiple segments, products, and markets.

It will develop more sustainable products such as lower-emissions fuels to help decarbonize commercial transportation, including aviation, and marine as well as chemical performance products that enable customer emissions reductions in applications in the agriculture, health, and renewable energy sectors.

The new company will also be in charge of creating next-generation lubricants and plastics that improve efficiency for traditional and electric vehicles and certified circular polymers that bring new life to plastic waste through advanced recycling.

When created, ExxonMobil Product Solutions will be the market leader in sales of polyethylene and other high-value chemical products and the second-largest aromatics, lubricants, and fuel additives producer.

Karen McKee, the former president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company has been appointed to lead ExxonMobil Product Solutions.

On the other hand, priorities of ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering include developing new technologies to significantly lower the cost of scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reductions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the asset level, increasing production yields and revenue, developing high-value differentiated products for customers, and improving advanced recycling of plastic waste.

Linda DuCharme, formerly president of ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions and ExxonMobil Upstream Business Development, has been appointed to lead ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company.

This change will also consolidate the Upstream into a single organization, ExxonMobil Upstream Company, which will be led by Liam Mallon, formerly president of ExxonMobil Upstream Oil and Gas Company.

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