Chemicals maker LyondellBasell Industries began shuttering its 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery on Monday for permanent closure, said people familiar with the plant’s operations.
The shutdown is expected to be completed by early February as the refinery has only a few days of supply of crude oil on hand, the sources said.
Lyondell said in an emailed statement on Monday that it planned to begin the refinery’s “ramp down” in late January and the process would continue through February.
The sources said the refinery’s crude supply on hand is limited.
“They are out of crude,” one of the sources said.
“They have stuff to run some of the downstream units for a few days. Others they can recirculate to bring down slowly over a few days.”
U.S. Gulf refined products traders said Lyondell was not offering products for delivery in February.
The company began issuing layoff notices last week, the sources said. The refinery’s 400 employees, about 75% of whom are hourly workers, are expected to be out of a job in about two months.
Lyondell decided in 2023 to close the refinery after failing to attract a buyer. It has said the refinery no longer fits with its core business.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Chris Reese and Savio D’Souza)