Two top U.S. refining executives are leaving LyondellBasell Industries as the company nears an agreement to sell its Houston refinery, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, to Reuters.
Kevin Brown, executive vice president for manufacturing and refining, and Samuel Smolik, senior vice president for Americas manufacturing, have agreed to departure terms with Lyondell, said the sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, reported Reuters.
A company spokesman declined on Tuesday to discuss the matter, Reuters stated.
"We don't comment on personnel matters, especially those that are rumored," said Lyondell spokesman Michael Waldron to Reuters. "With regard to the refinery, we don't have anything more to say beyond our prior statements."
In August the company said it was exploring all options for the 263,776 barrel per day (bpd) refinery on the Houston Ship Channel, the company's only U.S. refinery. Lyondell also operates 55 manufacturing sites, most of which are chemical plants, worldwide.
Reuters reported on Aug. 25 that Lyondell had retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help with the sale.
Saudi Aramco, one of four potential buyers identified by sources familiar with the process, has said it did not bid on the refinery, for which Lyondell was seeking $1.5 billion.
Other interested parties included Valero Energy Corp, Cenvous Energy Inc and Suncor Energy Inc, sources told Reuters in August and October.
The sources said on Tuesday they did not know the identity of the would-be buyer.
Also on Tuesday, Lyondell continued to restore production at the refinery after a Sunday power outage knocked all units out of production, according to Gulf Coast market sources. The plantwide power loss was the second this year, and followed a series of smaller outages since January.
By Monday, the refinery had restarted the two crude distillation units, the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit and the large coker.
On Tuesday, the Gulf Coast market sources said some units that have restarted since Sunday might have to shut down again for repairs in the near future due to problems caused by the power outage.
Lyondell had hoped to restore full production to the refinery by Wednesday.
