Producer
ExxonMobil Chemical (isobutane)
ExxonMobil is a major producer of isobutane (R600a feedstock) as a byproduct of petroleum refining and natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation at refineries globally. Isobutane is separated from butane and other C4 streams in NGL plants and petroleum refineries; ExxonMobil's Baytown TX and Baton Rouge LA refineries produce significant isobutane volumes. R600a refrigerant-grade isobutane requires purification to remove contaminants (particularly propane and n-butane) to ≥99.5% purity specifications. ExxonMobil does not primarily market R600a as a refrigerant product but supplies isobutane as a feedstock to chemical companies and distributors.
1
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
1
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
1 input ExxonMobil Chemical (isobutane) supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something ExxonMobil Chemical (isobutane) makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Isobutane (NGL Fractionation Byproduct)
5%Performance Chemicals & Lubricants
30%Polyethylene & Polypropylene
35%Aromatics & Fluids
30%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Isobutane from ExxonMobil refineries serves three completely separate downstream applications: (1) alkylation feedstock for high-octane gasoline blending (the largest single use -- isobutane is alkylated with olefins to make alkylate, a premium gasoline blending component), (2) hydrocarbon refrigerant (R600a for household refrigerators), and (3) aerosol propellant (for consumer spray products). The same C4 stream from ExxonMobil Baytown is allocated by market price signals to gasoline blending, refrigerant, and aerosol propellant applications. When gasoline alkylation economics improve (high octane premiums), more isobutane flows to refinery use and less is available for R600a refrigerant or aerosol propellants -- and vice versa. A US gasoline policy change (CAFE standards, renewable fuel mandates), a heating or cooling demand spike, or a ban on aerosol propellants would all shift isobutane demand across three industries simultaneously, with cascading effects on each that no single-industry analyst monitors.
US Energy Information Administration ↗Origin2023
ExxonMobil's role in the household refrigerant supply chain is largely invisible: isobutane (R600a), the natural hydrocarbon refrigerant used in nearly all European and increasingly global energy-efficient refrigerators, is a byproduct of petroleum refining and natural gas liquid fractionation. When ExxonMobil refines crude oil or processes natural gas at Baytown, Texas (the largest US refinery complex) or Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the C4 fraction contains isobutane, n-butane, isobutylene, and other components that must be separated. Isobutane separated from the C4 stream at sufficient purity becomes R600a refrigerant feedstock. ExxonMobil does not market R600a as a primary product; it sells isobutane to specialty chemical companies and distributors who purify and package it as refrigerant. The world's second-largest oil company is an indirect supplier to the household refrigerator supply chain -- its refinery operations are embedded in the supply chain for the appliance that preserves food in every refrigerator-owning household globally.
ExxonMobil Chemical Company ↗