Valero to buy LyondellBasell’s shuttered Houston refinery for $320.5 million
Valero Energy has agreed to buy LyondellBasell’s former oil refinery in Houston, Texas, for $320.5 million, the companies announced on Friday, 30 October 2026.
The deal covers the roughly 700-acre site on the Houston Ship Channel, next to Valero’s existing Houston refinery. It also includes 13.5 million barrels of storage capacity and logistics facilities such as marine docks, rail-loading facilities and truck racks, according to the Oil & Gas Journal.
Valero said it expected the deal to close by the end of 2026, subject to conditions including antitrust clearance. The refiner plans to restart 165,000 barrels a day of light sweet crude processing at the site by the end of 2027, and said the site could later support investment in heavier, more complex crude processing.
LyondellBasell said in April 2022 that it planned to leave the oil refining business and close the refinery, which could process 268,000 barrels a day. The plant was finally shut in March 2025 after delays. The company said selling the site offered the best way to advance its priorities, after also considering turning it into a hydrogen production site.
Why it matters
The purchase gives Valero more room to grow on the US Gulf Coast, one of the world’s biggest refining regions, at what its chief executive, Lane Riggs, called “a fraction of replacement value” — meaning far less than building a new refinery would cost.
Valero said the site would help fix shortages of partly processed oil, known as intermediate feedstock, across its Gulf Coast refineries, cutting its need to buy that material from other companies. For LyondellBasell, the sale closes the book on a refining business it decided to leave more than four years ago, and Valero will take on the site’s ongoing operations, environmental liabilities and pension costs.
What happens next
The deal still needs to clear US antitrust review before it can close, which both companies expect by the end of 2026. If it goes through, Valero will then work towards restarting part of the plant by the end of 2027, with any heavier crude processing to be decided later.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://6ix.com/news/valero-to-acquire-former-houston-refinery-from-lyondellbasell (Valero Energy via Business Wire, 30 October 2026)
- https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/companies/news/55415528/valero-to-acquire-former-lyondellbasell-houston-oil-refinery-restart-165000-b-d-by-end-2027 (Oil & Gas Journal, 30 October 2026)
- https://newshub.medianet.com.au/2026/10/lyondellbasell-agrees-to-sell-former-refinery-site-in-houston/179480/ (LyondellBasell via GlobeNewswire, 30 October 2026)
