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LyondellBasell

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LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is an American multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. The company is the largest licensor of polyethylene and polypropylene technologies.[3] It also produces ethylene, propylene, polyolefins, and oxyfuels.[4][5]

LyondellBasell Industries N.V.
Company typeNaamloze vennootschap
(public limited company)
ISINNL0009434992
IndustryChemicals
Predecessor
FoundedDecember 2007; 16 years ago (2007-12)
Headquarters
Houston, Texas, United States and London, UK; Rotterdam, Netherlands (legal domicile)
Key people
Peter Vanacker (CEO)
Michael McMurray (CFO)
Jeffrey Kaplan (CLO)
ProductsChemicals, Polymers
RevenueDecrease US$41.1 billion (2023)
Decrease US$3.05 billion (2023)
Decrease US$2.12 billion (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$37.0 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$12.9 billion (2023)
Number of employees
20,000 (2023)
Websitelyondellbasell.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]
LyondellBasell Tower (formerly One Houston Center) houses the Houston corporate offices of LyondellBasell.

LyondellBasell was formed in December 2007 by the acquisition of Lyondell Chemical Company by Basell Polyolefins for $12.7 billion.[6] As of 2016, Lyondell was the third largest independent chemical manufacturer in the United States.[7]

History

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Early history

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Since its establishment in 1985 from facilities belonging to the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), the company grew through stock swaps with Occidental Chemicals and Millennium Chemicals in 1997, which formed Equistar Chemicals of which each entity were partners. Lyondell purchased the outstanding shares from each of its partners to gain total control of Equistar which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lyondell. Lyondell bought ARCO Chemical in 1998 for $5.6 billion including ARCO's entire 82.2% ownership stake.[8] In 2004, Lyondell purchased Millennium Chemicals in a stock-swap deal valued at $2.3 billion.[9] In August 2006, Lyondell acquired Citgo's interest in the Lyondell-Citgo Refinery for $2.1 billion, and renamed the facility Houston Refining.[10] Chemical maker Basell Polyolefins purchased Lyondell in December 2007, creating the new company LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A., one of the largest chemical companies in the world at that time. It was owned by Access Industries, a privately held, U.S.-based industrial group. LyondellBasell is the third largest independent chemical manufacturer in the world and is headquartered in Houston and Rotterdam.

Expansion

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Facility in Houston

LyondellBasell's United States operations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2009, and emerged from bankruptcy in April 2010.[11] Its former parent company, LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A. was replaced by LyondellBasell Industries N.V.[12] It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on October 14, 2010.[13]

In 2012, 1 Houston Center, the building housing LyondellBasell's Houston headquarters since 1986, was renamed LyondellBasell Tower.[14] In 2014, LyondellBasell announced that it was installing two large cracking furnaces at its Channelview plant, and the following year the company announced it would double production capacity at the Bayport Underwood plant.[15] LyondellBasell acquired the compounding assets of Zylog Plastalloys, an India-based company, in November 2015.[16] The acquisition made LyondellBasell the third largest poly (propylene) materials producer in India.[17][18]

In June 2016, LyondellBasell announced a factory in Northern China. It was the third facility for LyondellBasell to open in China, following Guangzhou and Suzhou.[19]

In September 2016, LyondellBasell announced that it would build a $700 million polyethylene plant at the La Porte manufacturing complex on the Houston Ship Channel that would produce 1.1 billion pounds of polyethylene annually.[20][21] The company started construction on a La Porte plant in May 2017.[22][23]

The company completed an expansion of its Corpus Christi ethylene plant in January 2017. The plant's capacity was increased by 50 percent to produce 2.5 billion pounds annually.[24] That same year, Hurricane Harvey hit the United States and affected the company's Texas Gulf Coast operations. The Houston Ship Channel was temporarily closed, which prevented crude tankers from reaching refineries. The La Porte facility was damaged but came back online in late October.[25][26][27]

In December 2017, LyondellBasell partnered with Suez, a French water and waste management company, in the first joint venture between a major plastics and chemicals company and a resource management company.[28]

LyondellBasell and Odebrecht entered into exclusive talks for LYB to acquire control of Braskem in June 2018, but did not consummate the acquisition.[29]

During July 2018, LyondellBasell announced a partnership with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany to advance chemical recycling of plastic materials and assist the global efforts towards the circular economy and plastic waste recycling needs. The focus of the venture is to develop a new catalyst and process technology to decompose post-consumer plastic waste, such as packaging, into monomers for reuse in polymerization processes.[30]

In August 2018, LyondellBasell finalized their acquisition of A. Schulman Inc. in a $2.25 billion deal.[31] That same month, it broke ground on the world's largest propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol plant in Channelview, Texas. The plant is estimated to produce 1 billion pounds of propylene oxide and 2.2 billion pounds of tertiary butyl alcohol annually. LyondellBasell will export the majority of its products via the Houston Ship Channel.[32]

LyondellBasell also announced in September that it and its joint partner, Covestro, kicked-off a large investment project in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Circular Steam Project incorporates an innovative technology into the existing production plant, to convert its water-based waste into energy and is an important contribution to the Dutch government's CO2 reduction targets.[33]

In December 2023, LyondellBasell sold its ethylene oxide and derivatives business to INEOS for $700 million.[34]

Houston refinery shutdown

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In April of 2022, LyondellBasell announced plans to shutter its Houston refinery by the end of 2023, following two failed attempts to sell it.[35] These plans were later pushed back to Q1 2025 due to a period of strong refining margins.[36]

Philanthropy

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LyondellBasell holds an annual Global Care Day. Company employees volunteer for community service projects in 20 countries.[37]

Awards and recognition

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The American Chemistry Council recognized LyondellBasell with its Responsible Care Company of the Year award in 2014.[38] In 2015, the American Heart Association recognized LyondellBasell's Cincinnati Technology Center with the Fit-Friendly Worksite Platinum Award. The Fit-Friendly program emphasizes employee health and company culture surrounding physical health.[39]

LyondellBasell was named #2 on the list of Top 25 Foreign-owned Chemical Producers by Chemical & Engineering News in both 2015 and 2016.[40] In 2016, Houston Business Journal recognized LyondellBasell as the third largest Houston-based public company.[41]

In 2018, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies.[42] Additionally, Bob Patel received the 2018 ICIS Kavaler Award in September. The winner of the ICIS Kavaler Award is selected by his/her peers — the senior executives of the ICIS Top 40 Power Players listing, a global ranking of the leaders making the greatest positive impact on their companies and the chemical industry published in ICIS Chemical Business magazine.[43]

Environmental issues

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LyondellBasell's, among other petrochemical facilities at Berre-L'Étang, France, are regularly criticized in the French media[44][45][46] and by local authorities[47][48] for their large-scale flaring activities generating, among other nuisances, giant smoke plumes[45] with lengths reaching dozens of miles.[47] The concomitant atmospheric pollution includes organic chemical compounds such as carcinogenic benzene, butadiene and toluene.[46] Not only the nearby cities of Vitrolles, Rognac and Marignane suffer from this pollution,[48] but it is also held responsible for the deterioration of the air quality in the city center of Marseille,[46] at an approximate distance of 20 km from LyondellBasell's facility.

Similar concerns were raised about flaring activities on other LyondellBasell sites, e.g. the Corpus Christi facility[49] and the Lake Charles facility.[50]

Manufacturing facilities

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North American manufacturing facilities
South American manufacturing facilities
European manufacturing facilities
Asian manufacturing facilities
Australian facilities
  • Geelong, Victoria - homopolymer PP plant, analytical laboratory

References

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  1. ^ "Investors".
  2. ^ "US SEC: Form 10-K LyondellBasell Industries N.V." U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 24 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Orpic picks LyondellBasell PP technology at new plant in Oman". www.mrcplast.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  4. ^ "LyondellBasell to build world's largest propylene oxide plant". Chemistry World. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  5. ^ "LyondellBasell Industries N.V.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  6. ^ "Who We Are". LyondellBasell. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  7. ^ "LyondellBasell: Misunderstood and Undervalued". Mysa. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  8. ^ Salpukas, Agis (19 June 1998). "Lyondell Petrochemical to Buy ARCO Chemical". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Greer, Jim. "Lyondell to purchase Millennium Chemicals in $2.3B deal". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  10. ^ "Lyondell buys out Citgo stake in Houston refinery for $2.1B - Aug. 17, 2006". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  11. ^ "After 10 years and bankruptcy filing, LyondellBasell leads Gulf petrochemical boom". Houston Chronicle. 28 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  12. ^ "LyondellBasell emerges from bankruptcy reorganization". PlasticsToday. 2010-04-26. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  13. ^ "LyondellBasell Shares Begin Trading on NYSE". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  14. ^ "Deal of the week: LyondellBasell to put name on tower".
  15. ^ "LyondellBasell CEO: New Gulf Coast plant part of 'next generation' of innovation".
  16. ^ "LyondellBasell continues India growth with new deal".
  17. ^ "LyondellBasell completes acquisition of Pune-based Zylog".
  18. ^ "Buyout of Zylog's polypropylene business will propel LyondellBasell to the third spot in India".
  19. ^ "PNChina.com: LyondellBasell building first plant in northern China". www.pnchina.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  20. ^ "LyondellBasell picks location for new $700M plant in Houston".
  21. ^ "LyondellBasell to build another Gulf Coast plant".
  22. ^ "LyondellBasell starts construction on Gulf Coast plant using new technology".
  23. ^ "LyondellBasell plant in La Porte will help reshape plastic-making".
  24. ^ "LyondellBasell completes Corpus Christi ethylene plant expansion".
  25. ^ "LyondellBasell posts growing $1 billion profit".
  26. ^ "As Houston Recovers From Harvey, Getting Fuel Flowing Again Is a Slow Process".
  27. ^ "Houston Works to Maintain Critical Services".
  28. ^ "LyondellBasell looking to create recycling platform with Suez JV". plasticsnewseurope.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  29. ^ "Odebrecht, LyondellBasell to seal Braskem deal by mid-October: paper". Reuters. 10 July 2018.
  30. ^ Goldsberry, Claire (23 August 2018). "LyondellBasell and Karlsruhe Tech team up to advance chemical recycling". Plastics Today. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  31. ^ Blunt, Katherine (21 August 2018). "LyondellBasell closes A. Schulman acquisition". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  32. ^ Mann, Joshua (22 August 2018). "Behind the deal: LyondellBasell breaks ground at Channelview facility". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  33. ^ Laird, Karen (4 September 2018). "Covestro, LyondellBasell kick off major emissions reduction project in Netherlands". Plastics News Europe. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  34. ^ "LyondellBasell to sell Bayport ethylene oxide unit to INEOS for $700 mln". Reuters. 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  35. ^ Seba, Erwin (2022-04-29). "Lyondell Basell to shutter Houston oil refinery in exit from refining". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  36. ^ Seba, Erwin (2024-11-01). "Another US oil refinery to vanish with Lyondell Houston plant closing". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  37. ^ "LyondellBasell Global Care Day brings lasting change". Houston Chronicle. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  38. ^ Heumann, Jenny. "Chemical Manufacturing Companies Honored for Commitment to Health and Safety Performance". American Chemistry Council. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  39. ^ "LyondellBasell Bayport Complex honored by American Heart Association". Houston Chronicle. 13 April 2014.
  40. ^ "Top 50 U.S. chemical producers of 2016".
  41. ^ "Forbes names 11 Houston energy companies among 'World's Best Employers'".
  42. ^ "World's Most Admired Companies".
  43. ^ "LyondellBasell CEO Bob Patel to receive 2018 ICIS Kavaler Award". Chemical Industry News. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  44. ^ "Berre-l'Étang : un nouveau torchage massif de Lyondell illumine la nuit". 25 October 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  45. ^ a b "L'épisode de torchage de LyondellBasell en images". September 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  46. ^ a b c "La vie au pied des torchères". 31 October 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  47. ^ a b "Berre L'Etang - Torchages : LyondellBasell répond aux députés et maires". 23 February 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  48. ^ a b "Berre-l'Étang : des maires montent au front après l'incident de LyondellBasell". LaProvence.com (in French). 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  49. ^ Lyondell Basell routine flaring causes concern for some, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-07-27
  50. ^ Manning, Johnathan (13 July 2021). "Heavy flaring at LyondellBasell after power outage". www.kplctv.com. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  51. ^ "Morris Lions Club chooses Citizen of the Year". 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  52. ^ "LyondellBasell Receives Five Top Safety Awards". EIN News. 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  53. ^ "Shale-fed chemical boom still soars even as oil falls". San Antonio Express-News. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  54. ^ Manufacturers, American Fuel & Petrochemical (19 May 2016). "AFPM Safety Awards Honor Industry Achievements". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  55. ^ Pindamonhangaba, Brazil
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  • Official website
  • Business data for LyondellBasell:
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