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Fawley helps in COVID-19 fight
As the battle against COVID-19 continues, ExxonMobil Fawley has become a key player in the global vaccine supply chain. The site’s Chemicals units are responsible for supplying a range of products including halobutyl rubber, a component of the vaccine vials.
Halobutyl rubber creates a strong, impermeable barrier which lends itself perfectly for use in the production of pharmaceutical bottle stoppers to keep medicines sealed and sterile. The rubber creates a re-sealable barrier, which does not fragment when pierced by the needle of syringe, as required for a COVID-19 vaccine vial.
Jamie Renshaw, Fawley’s Chemicals technical manager, says: “By providing approximately 70 per cent of all ExxonMobil pharmaceutical grade rubber, Fawley is making a significant contribution to the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain. In fact, we believe that around half of all the rubber that goes into the vial stoppers globally may originate from Fawley!”
Fawley’s Chemicals plant also produces a range of liquids that are being used in the manufacture of medical products, including sterile packaging and cleaning agents. The site also manufactures plasticisers which are used in hospital flooring, protective goggles, vinyl gloves, facemasks and respirators.
Jamie added: “As we are all only too aware, COVID-19 continues to be a massive global challenge, affecting whole populations in ways that most of us would not have predicted just over a year ago. Throughout the pandemic, ExxonMobil Fawley has remained a reliable supplier to the pharmaceutical industry, making sure that we play our part in the fight against this disease.”
Also in this issue
Travis takes the helm as RRT Coordinator
Travis Hansen, regional EP&R adviser has been appointed to lead the Regional Response Team (RRT) following the retirement of Mark Wentworth (see Newsline April 2021). “I’ve been involved with the RRT since 2013 and when Mark retired, I felt I could do something to build on the amazing job he’s done and bring my own energies to the role,” he says.
PIGs in the pipeline at FEP
This is not your usual PIG – this is a Pipeline Inspection Gauge, a specialist robot that checks and cleans oil and gas pipelines from the inside to keep them running safely, using a process known as ‘pigging’. As part of the £140m plant investment programme now underway at our Fife Ethylene Plant, we are pigging the 7km of pipes that link the plant to our Braefoot Bay Marine Terminal on the Forth.
Helping Hampshire’s Search & Rescue Heroes
Hampshire Search and Rescue is one of the latest voluntary organisations to receive a donation from the ExxonMobil VIP scheme. £500 was awarded to the charity, which works alongside Hampshire police in searching for vulnerable high risk missing persons in the county. The team has been called out 30 times so far this year and the donation will go towards new lifejackets for river bank searching.
Remediation works are set to begin at Bowling
Preparation and construction works are due to start this month (May) at a significant former industrial site in Bowling near Glasgow after a year-long delay due to COVID-19. As part of the land sale agreement, ExxonMobil will remediate the site, which was previously home to an Esso oil terminal. The land is now part of the Glasgow City Region Deal project and will be transformed by the buyer into a major industrial and commercial development and bypass.
FAST – preserving the future
Although Fawley’s FAST project has been temporarily postponed, work continues at pace to ensure the project is well placed upon restart. Newsline has spoken to Yuri Cordy, project manager to discover what’s been happening to store and preserve the equipment already procured.
Fawley prepares for 70th anniversary celebrations
Preparations are underway to mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘new’ refinery at Fawley in September. Newsline spoke to Alison Jones, Fawley community manager, who is helping to co-ordinate the celebrations with Fawley’s Behaviours and Culture team.
“Everything at Fawley has 70th anniversary branding this year,” says Alison. “The 10 large information boards displayed in Fawley’s conference centre are being upgraded to mark the anniversary and digital signage is being used across the site. New photographs have been commissioned to hang throughout the administration building too.
