Lyondell began the previously announced shutdown of the refinery on January 27.
Lyondell, in an emailed statement on Friday night, declined to discuss the status of the refinery.
Some units at the refinery are on warm circulation until they can be emptied of feedstocks and product remaining in the units.
A unit on warm circulation is kept at operating temperature, but not producing anything. The high temperature will allow the liquid hydrocarbons to be drained. If the units are allowed to go cold, the hydrocarbons would solidify in piping.
Lyondell announced plans in 2023 to shut the plant within a year, having failed in attempts over seven years to sell the refinery. The company later extended the timing of the closure by a year to the first quarter of 2025.
Lyondell has said the motor fuel-producing refinery no longer fit with the company’s growth into a global manufacturer of plastic pellets used to make plastic products.
In a sales push in 2016, the company was said by sources at the time to be asking $1.5 billion for the refinery. However, the sources also said another $1 billion might be needed to upgrade the plant, which sustained a string of outages and one major fire in that year.
The company plans to convert existing hydrotreaters at the refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel for use with equipment – to be added after 2027 – that will produce plastic pellets from recycled items.
Hydrotreaters use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuels in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.
The Lyondell plant is the first of two U.S. refineries planned for closure this year. Phillips 66 said in October it will shutter its Los Angeles refinery by the end of 2025.
Valero Energy is reviewing the future of its two California refineries for possible closure, citing the state’s plans to phase out sales of new gasoline-powered automobiles by the middle of the next decade.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by William Mallard and Sam Holmes)
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