(Reuters) LyondellBasell Industries has asked private equity firm Silverpeak to resubmit a bid for the company’s Houston refinery, said two people familiar with the matter.
Chemical maker LyondellBasell announced in April 2022 plans to permanently shutter the 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery because it is no longer essential to the company’s global petrochemical production system and would shrink its carbon footprint.
Spokespeople for LyondellBasell and Silverpeak did not reply to messages requesting comment on Monday.
It was unclear if LyondellBasell has asked other bidders, which include terminal operator Kinder Morgan, to resubmit offers for the Houston refinery.
Kinder Morgan spokesperson Amy Baek declined to comment.
LyondellBasell Chief Executive Peter Vanacker has said that after the closure the refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel could be converted into a plant that would be part of a production chain for recycled plastics.
New York-based Silverpeak had a majority interest in the 130,000-bpd Come-by-Chance refinery in Newfoundland when it was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Sliverpeak sold the majority interest in Come-by-Chance to Cresta Fund Management in 2021, maintaining a minority stake.
Analysts have said the Houston refinery is an unattractive investment because it requires capital improvements up to $1 billion on top of a purchase price of at least $1 billion.
The request for the new bid came after the United Steelworkers union (USW) and state and local political leaders began a campaign in March to find a buyer for the refinery.
The refinery employs 1,000 people about half of whom are represented by the USW.
A refinery has been in operation at the site of the LyondellBasell refinery since 1918.
