Fire hits LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery

April 8, 2016
Houston Refining LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of LyondellBasell Industries NV, has reported a fire at its 268,000-b/d full-conversion Houston refinery on the Houston Ship Channel.

Houston Refining LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of LyondellBasell Industries NV, has reported a fire at its 268,000-b/d full-conversion Houston refinery on the Houston Ship Channel.

The fire, which broke out in the refinery’s coker shortly after 10:00 a.m. on Apr. 8, has been extinguished, LyondellBasell said in a series of posts to its official social media sites.

The company disclosed no further details regarding the incident.

In its annual report for 2015 submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 16, LyondellBasell said it was then in the process of carrying out planned maintenance at both the Houston refinery’s crude unit and coker.

Designed to refine heavy, sour crude into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and lube oils, the Houston refinery experienced lower crude processing rates in 2015 mainly due to unplanned outages for maintenance in the latter part of the year, the company said.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].