MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lyondell Basell Industries said maintenance operations were staffed at its Houston refinery to assure safety and reliability. Gulf Coast market sources told Reuters hundreds of contractors had been sent home this week to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading in the 263,776 barrel-per-day refinery, reported Reuters.
Those contractors work for companies hired by Lyondell to perform maintenance on units in the refinery.
Lyondell employee operations and maintenance staff continue to work in the refinery, the sources said.
“At this time, maintenance activities are staffed to ensure safe and reliable operations,” said Lyondell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray.
Lyondell’s statement said nothing about staffing levels or if the maintenance is of the same scope as it was prior to this week.
The sources said the contractors remaining in the refinery were focused on inspecting and then repairing the refinery’s shut gasoline-producing FCC, which has been offline since a Feb. 16 fire.
Gray said Lyondell has instituted policies, like those at most refineries, to increase social distancing along with cleaning and sanitization of work spaces.
Lyondell has also released office staff, and others whose work allows, to work from home, Gray said.
As MRC wrote before, LyondellBasell (LBI), one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has just announced it has signed definitive agreements to expand in China through a 50:50 joint venture with the Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group (Bora). On September 5, 2019, LyondellBasell and Bora first signed a Memorandum of Understanding and announced their intention to form this joint venture during a ceremony in Panjin, China. Under the agreements, the partners will form a Sino-foreign joint venture, the Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical Co. Ltd, that will operate a 1.1 million metric tons per annum ethylene cracker and associated polyolefin derivatives complex in Panjin, China, with a total expected cost of approximately USD2.6 billion.
LyondellBasell will market the polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which will be produced utilizing LyondellBasell licensed Spheripol, Spherizone PP technologies and Hostalen ACP polyethylene technology. Start-up is expected in the second half of 2020.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.
LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC