The LyondellBasell Houston refinery viewed from the Houston Ship Channel in August 2024. Archive photograph, not a reopened plant or a completed Valero acquisition. Photo: Rifleman82 / Wikimedia Commons. Resized under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Valero Energy agreed Friday to buy LyondellBasell’s former Houston refinery site for $320.5 million and said it plans to restart 165,000 barrels a day of crude-processing capacity by the end of 2027.
The approximately 700-acre site sits next to Valero’s existing Houston refinery on the Houston Ship Channel. The purchase would expand the fuel producer’s Gulf Coast footprint, but the transaction has not closed and refining operations have not resumed.
Valero’s Texas refining subsidiary signed a definitive agreement to acquire the equity interests of LYB Houston Hub Holdings, which indirectly owns the former refinery. The price is subject to closing adjustments.
The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory requirements and other customary conditions, including the applicable U.S. antitrust waiting period.
Valero said the initial restart would process light, sweet crude. It also sees an opportunity for later investment in more complex equipment capable of processing heavy, sour crude. That later investment is a possibility, not a completed expansion.
LyondellBasell said the sale follows its decision to stop refining at the site and a review of options for the property. The chemical company said the agreement provides continued employment for the site’s workforce.
Under the terms described by LyondellBasell, Valero will take responsibility for ongoing site operations, environmental liabilities, pension costs and related employee obligations.
Valero operates 14 petroleum refineries in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, with a combined throughput capacity of about three million barrels a day. Its plan for the Houston property remains subject to the acquisition closing and the work needed to resume operations.
JBizNews Desk | Houston
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