LyondellBasell Takes Houston Refinery Off the Selling Block

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) (Houston, Texas), which announced that it would try to sell its refinery in Houston last August, has said that the refinery will remain part of the LyondellBasell portfolio. Industrial Info is tracking $84.5 million in upgrade and turnaround projects at the refinery.

The Houston refinery has a processing capacity of up 268,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of crude oil. It was reported in the media that Saudi Arabia Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) (Dubai, Saudi) was bidding on the plant. For more information, see September 16, 2016, article - Reports: Saudi Aramco Eyes Texas Refinery Purchase.

In an email to Industrial Info, company spokesperson Michael Waldron said, "During the normal course of business it is not unusual for a company to periodically review its asset portfolio. Despite considerable speculation and misinformation in the media, remaining part of LyondellBasell has always been a very real option. There is no doubt that this is a valuable asset with a great team of people."

Among the projects being tracked at the refinery is an estimated $20 million upgrade of a 49,000-BBL/d heavy gas oil hydrotreater, which will entail modifying the main fractionation column and replacing the existing reactor with a larger reactor to produce more diesel. It is thought the project will take place this summer.

Also on the books is the upgrade of a gasoline hydrotreater to conform to Tier 3 gasoline regulations by reducing sulfur content in gasoline from 30 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm. The project has an estimated total investment value of $20 million and is set to kick off this spring.

Industrial Info is tracking $4.4 billion in active LyondellBasell projects across the world, many of which are in the Greater Houston area. Among these is the addition of a polyethylene unit at the company's site in La Porte, Texas. The $650 million project entails construction of a 1.1 billion-pound-per-year multimodal polyethylene resin unit, along with other infrastructure, including a control room and railroad yard. Bechtel Group Incorporated (San Francisco, California) is acting as engineering firm on the project. The project is set to kick off early this year and be completed by the end of 2019. A potential second phase of the project could expand the plant by another 1 billion pounds per year, although this project remains in the very early planning stages.

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