The move follows the company's plan to shutter its refinery.
Lyondell Basell Houston Refinery, 12000 Lawndale St., is shown Tuesday, August 29, 2017 in Houston. The company shuttered the facility, and now it is laying off more than 300 workers.
LyondellBasell, which recently shuttered its Houston refinery, will lay off 86 percent of those facility workers—or 345 workers—on April 17, according to a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission.
Around 400 LyondellBassell employees are working at the Houston refinery, according to the filing. About 70 percent of them are hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW). Others were represented by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. The company has taken steps to notify the employees of the impending layoffs, according to the filing.
The workforce reduction comes after LyondellBassell completed the shutdown of Houston Refinery LP earlier this month, according to a Reuters report. The refinery, a subsidiary of the multinational petrochemical company, is located at 12000 Lawndale St. in Houston.
"Houston Refining LP is permanently ceasing its entire oil refining processes at its facility ... which will result in the shutdown of most operations at the facility," the company wrote. "Consistent with these plans, employment separations are expected to begin on or about April 17, 2025."
The refinery produced various fuels, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. It opened in 1918 and is one of the oldest refineries to operate in the Houston area. The closure follows LyondellBassell's plans to exit the refining industry and focus on renewable energy sources.
"We're exiting a volatile, low-margin business to focus our resources and opportunities for sustainable value creation," LyondellBasell CEO Peter Vanacker said during a November earnings call.
LyondellBasell will spend $61 million to renovate its new headquarters in Williams Tower, as it progresses on its plan to leave its namesake tower in downtown Houston by 2025. Lyondell inked the contract for the 318,504-square-foot, 64-story Williams Tower developed by Hines and owned by Invesco Real Estate in May of last year, shaking up the office real estate market.
https://www.chron.com/business/article/lyondell-bassell-houston-refinery-layoffs-20191949.php
