Energy
Exxon Mobil Corp.
Water dependencyHigh
Exxon Mobil Corp. is a U.S. energy company involved in oil and gas production, refining, chemicals, and low-carbon businesses. The company uses large amounts of water for cooling, steam generation, hydraulic fracturing, refining, and chemical processing. As a result, water management touches freshwater supply, produced water, wastewater treatment, and groundwater protection.
In 2025, ExxonMobil made its biggest water progress in the Permian Basin. Recycled produced water made up 91% of the water used for hydraulic fracturing there, up from 64% in 2022, meaning less freshwater was needed rather than just swapping one source for another. Reclaimed and brackish water added another 4%, so together these sources provided 95% of the water used. This greatly reduced the need for freshwater in one of the company's key regions.
Beyond those gains, the company also improved how it manages water risks. It started using its Water Aspect Assessment Tool, first tested in 2022, as part of its environmental reviews in 2024. This tool helps check water availability, quality, access, and other risks. ExxonMobil also uses WRI Aqueduct and local reviews to find sites with water stress, and some major locations get a more detailed water-balance analysis.
Water reuse happens at other sites too. At ExxonMobil's Singapore manufacturing and refining complex, reclaimed wastewater from the national water agency is treated for industrial use. An onsite membrane biological reactor allows even more wastewater to be reused. The Huizhou Chemical Complex in China built systems to treat and reuse about 60 to 70% of wastewater in the cooling towers.
ExxonMobil also works with the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium and the Texas Produced Water Consortium to study how treated produced water can be reused. However, without total company water withdrawal, consumption, or a water-intensity number, there is no way to tell whether these site-level gains actually reduced overall water use. This makes it hard to know if these improvements lowered overall water use.
3 Key Metrics of Exxon Mobil Corp, 2025
- Total water use / consumption / withdrawal
- Freshwater withdrawal — 440 million cubic meters; freshwater consumption — 290 million cubic meters.
- Water intensity
- Upstream — 0.3; downstream — 0.7; chemical — 2.1 metric tons of water consumed per metric ton of throughput or production.
- Water-stressed region exposure
- 12% of freshwater withdrawal; approximately 23% of locations.
Supplemental metrics
- Water recycled/reused
- Permian Basin — 91% recycled produced water; 95% including reclaimed and brackish sources.
- Water recycled/reused (Huizhou)
- Huizhou Chemical Complex — approximately 60–70% of wastewater treated and reused in onsite cooling towers.
- Controlled hydrocarbon discharges to water
- 0.4 thousand metric tons.
- Upstream controlled hydrocarbon discharges
- 0.3 thousand metric tons.
- Downstream controlled hydrocarbon discharges
- 0.1 thousand metric tons.
- Marine vessel hydrocarbon spills over 1 barrel
- 0.
- Non-marine hydrocarbon spills
- 402 spills; 6.0 thousand barrels.
- Other non-marine spills
- 36 spills; 0.2 thousand barrels.
Analysis reference: exxon-mobil-corp