LyondellBasell Industries has changed its mind about a refinery it was trying to sell in Houston.
In August, the petrochemical giant announced that it wanted to sell the refinery, which is one of the biggest in the country.
LyondellBasell reportedly pitched the 268,000-barrels-per-day refinery to several big-name companies including Valero Energy and Saudi Aramco, but none bit on the offer.
The refinery sits on about 700 acres on the border between Houston and Pasadena. It is designed to process high-sulfur crude oil and can also crank out conventional gas, lube oil, refinery-grade propylene, sulfur and petroleum coke.
But it’s the refinery’s ability to process cleaner fuels like ultra-low sulfur diesel, jet fuel, reformulated gas and aromatics, that could have impacted the company’s decision to keep it.
According to the Houston Chronicle, recent regulatory changes by the International Maritime Organization have stipulated that vessels must burn cleaner fuels by 2020. Those rules will increase demand for diesel, which has fewer pollutants than the heavy fuels vessels currently use.
LyondellBasell did not explain exactly why it said “never mind” on selling the refinery, but a spokesperson said the company sees “tremendous value” in the facility. However, the company also indicated that it could still try to sell the refinery in the future.
LyondellBasell is also planning to build a $700 million polyethylene plant at its manufacturing complex outside the Houston Ship Channel. All told, the company has expansion plans in Houston and the Gulf Coast region totally $4 billion through 2020.
