Texas City Refinery - Marathon Petroleum Co
During September of 2005, Marathon Oil Corporation formed a subsidiary company that was named the Marathon Petroleum Company. Soon after the newly formed company took over one of three oil refineries located in Texas City, Texas. The facility itself was built in the early 1900s, and has been in the Marathon family since 1962.
This plan has not only been successful, it has had an overall strong safety rating through the years. One of the only major setbacks faced by the facility came from the use of products that were made from asbestos. These products were very popular for many years, especially in industrial settings, until they were shown to be hazardous to human health. Exposure to asbestos has been clearly linked to the development of respiratory diseases and a sometimes fatal form of cancer called mesothelioma. The effects of asbestos often take many years to become obvious, so anyone who formerly worked at the Texas City plant, or any other work site that had asbestos on the premises, is encouraged to visit their doctor for a check up.
In 2007 a major power outage completely stopped all production at the Marathon and other local refineries. The outage lasted for half an hour, and did not appear to cause any damage to plant equipment or result in any injuries within the plant. Marathon's facility continues to work at full capacity, with a daily production capability of up to 76,000 barrels of crude oil.
Also in 2007, the plant ran into some trouble with U.S. Government, when charges were brought forth that claimed the company attempted to misrepresent monetary information to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Their plan would allowed refinery executives to manipulate the buy and sell prices on the oil market, but their misdeed was caught and they were held accountable for it.
The Marathon Petroleum Company has worked hard to be an environmentally friendly company. Marathon was the very first petroleum based company that voluntarily joined the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® group, which subjects all of their facilities to third party audits to ensure they are judged based on their safety records and levels of pollution by an unbiased group. They have also volunteered for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program, which enables OSHA officials to inspect and evaluate their plants at any time. Furthermore, Marathon Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Environmental Performance Track program, which voluntarily holds the company to a higher standard of cleanliness and a lower level of emissions.
Marathon's Texas City site was also recognized as the Petroleum Bay Business of the Year Award by the Galveston Bay Foundation in 2006, honored by National Safety Council and National Petroleum Refiners Association for their advanced safety precautions and received the Caring for Texas award from the Texas Chemical Council in both 2005 and 2006.
Last modified: December 09, 2009.
