Lyondell’s Houston refinery will begin closing later this week, sources told Reuters.
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) – LyondellBasell Industries will begin permanently closing its 263,776-barrel-per-day Houston refinery this weekend, people familiar with the plant’s operations said.
The sources said that plans to lay off up to 400 workers at the oil refinery will begin two months after the layoff.
The company said on Wednesday that it was following the scheduled shutdown of the refinery.
“LyondellBasell is on schedule to cease refining operations at the Houston refinery by the end of the first quarter of 2025,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“As previously stated, the planned phase-down process will begin in late January and continue through February. Our focus is on safely decommissioning refinery operations to protect the community, the environment and our employees,” Lyondell said.
After more than seven years of unsuccessful attempts to initially sell the factory, Lyondell was closed in 2010. It announced plans to close within a year of 2023, but extended the closing date by a year to the first quarter of 2025.
The company plans to use the existing water filters at the refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel with equipment — which will be added after 2027 — to produce plastic pellets from recycled plastic items.
They use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuels in compliance with US environmental regulations.
Lyondell plans to shut down the first of its two crude distillation units (CDUs) and associated coker in January. The second CDU, the units fed by it and the associated Coker, will close between mid and late February.
CDUs start the refining process by dividing the feed into all other units in the refinery. Cokers convert leftover crude oil into storage for motor fuels or petroleum coke, a substitute for coal.
Lyondell’s plant is the first of two U.S. refineries scheduled to close this year. Phillips 66 (NYSE: ) said in October that it will close its Los Angeles refinery by the end of 2025.
Valero Energy (NYSE: ) is evaluating the future of two California refineries, citing the state’s plan to end sales of new gasoline-powered automobiles by the middle of the next decade.