LyondellBasell-slated crude likely to stay in US Gulf

LyondellBasell-slated crude likely to stay in US Gulf

Houston, 5 May (Argus) — LyondellBasell's decision to close the 268,000 b/d Houston refinery gives competing refiners in the US Gulf coast a bigger slice of Latin American crude flows to the region.

Netherlands-based chemical producer LyondellBasell announced late last month that it would close the Houston refinery by the end of 2023, heralding the move as a sign of the company's progress toward net zero emissions by 2050. But a more near-term consequence is that Latin American heavy sour crude barrels historically imported to the facility will now head elsewhere in the region.

The LyondellBasell refinery is a regular taker of Mexican and Colombian crude supplies suited to its diesel-slanted lineup of equipment at the facility. The facility took around 50,000 b/d of crude from Mexico in 2021, the fifth-biggest taker of Mexican crude in the US behind competing Gulf coast refiners Valero, Chevron, Phillips 66 and Shell. It also took nearly 74,000 b/d from Colombia across 2021, representing more than a third of the country's 200,000 b/d average exports into the US.

With worldwide crude flows shifting after the prohibition of Russian supplies from US and EU markets, US Gulf coast refinersindicate these Latin American imports will have no trouble finding