Lyondell will begin shutting down its Houston refinery this weekend, sources told Reuters
Author Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) – LyondellBasell Industries will begin a permanent shutdown of its 263,776-bpd Houston refinery this coming weekend, people familiar with the plant’s operations said.
Layoffs of up to 400 employees at the refinery are set to begin two months after the shutdown begins, sources said.
The company said on Wednesday that it is following the planned schedule of closing the refinery.
“LyondellBasell is scheduled to cease refining operations at the Houston refinery at the end of the first quarter of 2025,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“As previously mentioned, the planned phase-down begins in late January and continues through February. Our focus is on safely shutting down refining operations to protect the community, the environment and our workers,” Lyondell said.
Lyondell first announced plans to close the refinery within a year in 2023, after seven years of unsuccessful attempts to sell it, but extended the closure by a year to the first quarter of 2025.
The company plans to convert existing water treatment facilities at a refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel for use with equipment — to be added after 2027 — that will produce plastic pellets from recycled plastic items.
Hydrotreaters use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuels in compliance with US environmental regulations.
Lyondell plans to shut down the first of two crude distillation units (CDUs) and the associated coking plant in January. The other CDU, the units it feeds and its associated coke, will close between mid and late February.
CDUs begin refining by breaking it down into raw materials for all other units in the refinery. Coking plants convert residual crude oil into either motor fuel feedstock or petroleum coke, a substitute for coal.
The Lyondell plant is the first of two US refineries scheduled to close this year. Phillips 66 (NYSE: ) said in October that it would close its Los Angeles refinery by the end of 2025.
Valero Energy (NYSE: ) is reviewing the future of its two California refineries for possible closure, citing the state’s plans to phase out sales of new gasoline-powered cars by the middle of the next decade.
