Exxon’s Beaumont plant is likely the last major US refinery project

When Exxon Mobil Corp.’s newest addition to its southeast Texas refinery ramps up to full production in the next few weeks, it’ll be the first major expansion of US fuel-making capacity in at least a decade. And probably the last.

For Exxon, the timing has worked impeccably: It’s expanding supplies of diesel and a gasoline ingredient called vacuum gasoil, or VGO, just as customers are struggling to replace sanctioned Russian cargoes.

In addition, the refinery expansion in Beaumont, about a 90-minute drive from Houston, gives Exxon a guaranteed outlet for oil produced in the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. Using domestic crude nets Exxon more than $40 for every barrel of diesel produced, a historically eye-popping margin.