LyondellBasell Is Dropping Plans to Expand a Metathesis Unit to Boost Propylene Production

LyondellBasell is dropping plans to expand a metathesis unit to boost propylene production at its Channelview, Texas, facility, and will instead focus its efforts on debottlenecking projects at its ethylene units, company CEO Jim Gallogly said Friday during a call with investors to discuss fourth-quarter earnings. 

The company said in December 2011 that it was advancing a project to build a new metathesis unit at Channelview, which was expected to increase propylene production by more than 225,000/mt year of equivalent ethylene. Metathesis is process to make propylene that uses ethylene and, in some cases, butene as feedstocks. 

Gallogly said LyondellBasell has decided to take the project off the table. 

"Our money is better spent on debottlenecking at these ethylene units," he said. 

LyondellBasell is one of two US olefins producers who currently use the metathesis process to make propylene. 

During Friday's call, Gallogly said debottlenecking at the company's LaPorte, Texas, facility was expected to be completed in 2014. He said further details about debottlenecking projects at the Channelview and Corpus Christi, Texas, facilities would be discussed at LyondellBasell's Investor Day on March 13 in New York. 

The company has previously said the debottlenecking projects at LaPorte and Channelview were expected to increase ethane capacity by more than 600,000 mt/year. 

Earlier Friday, LyondellBasell Friday reported a net profit of $623 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, turning around from a loss of $218 million a year earlier (See story, 1528 GMT).