Written by Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) – LyondellBasell Industries plans to begin permanently shutting down its 263,776-barrel-per-day Houston refinery this weekend, a person familiar with the plant’s operations said.
The job cuts of up to 400 employees at the refinery are expected to begin two months after the shutdown begins, sources said.
The company announced Wednesday that the refinery closure is on its planned schedule.
“LyondellBasell will cease refining operations at its Houston refinery at the end of the first quarter of 2025, as planned,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“As previously stated, the phased and planned reduction will begin towards the end of January and continue through February. ,” Lyondell said.
After seven years of failed attempts to sell the refinery, Lyondell first announced plans to close the refinery within a year in 2023, but has now extended the closure by one year to the first quarter of 2025. did.
The company will convert existing hydroprocessing equipment at its refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel for use in equipment that will make plastic pellets from recycled plastic products (with additions expected in 2027 and beyond). I’m planning something.
Hydrotreaters use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuels in accordance with U.S. environmental regulations.
Lyondell plans to shut down the first of two crude oil distillation units (CDUs) and associated cokers in January. The second CDU and its associated units supplied by Coker will be closed from mid-to-late February.
The CDU begins refining by breaking it down into feedstock for all other units in the refinery. Cokers convert residual crude oil into petroleum coke, a feedstock for vehicle fuels or a substitute for coal.
The Lyondell plant is the first of two U.S. refineries scheduled to close this year. Phillips 66 (NYSE:) announced in October that it would close its Los Angeles refinery by the end of 2025.
valero energy (NYSE:) weighs the future of two California refineries for possible closure, citing the state’s plan to phase out sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by the middle of the next decade. I am doing it.
