Houston Refinery Lyondell
In 1918, Harry Sinclair of Sinclair Oil Company began construction on a small refinery in Houston Texas. The plant continued to grow and expand, and by 1968 it became among the first fully modernized and converted oil refineries within the entire Gulf Coast region. Arco purchase the plant from Sinclair in 1969.
This site was not doing well, and there were considerations of shutting it down for good. A company executive named Bob Gower came up with a plan to convert the plant into both an oil refinery and a chemical processing facility. This plan was approved, and the process began under a new company name, Lyondell Chemical. Over the next few years the plant began to succeed and pull in large profits. For a brief time in the 1990's, CITGO Corporation invested in the facility, and partnered with Lyondell, but by 2006 Lyondell bought them out and took over complete ownership of the facility. Today the refinery has the daily ability to produce up to 270,200 barrels of crude oil.
Over the years, the plant has gone through many changes. One change that they were forced to make was the elimination of all products that contained asbestos. These products were prevalent in many oil refineries, as they were able to endure the high temperatures that the facilities produce. While the material had certain advantages, it also had a major problem that had to be dealt with: it was found to be highly toxic and hazardous to the health of anyone who was exposed to it. Scientists who were studying asbestos discovered that it causes damage to the respiratory system, and also leads to a form of cancer known as mesothelioma. Both items can lead to fatalities, and anyone who has worked with or around products that were made with asbestos should notify their health care provider.
Lyondell's Houston plant was forced to run at partial capacity for a while during October of 2007. The cause of this diminished functioning ability was a fire that broke out within a distillation unit on the site. Flames were ignited, but thanks to the quick action of plant employees, they were contained in just a few minutes time. The unit where the fire began was removed for further inspection, and that section of the plant was shut down for several days while experts ran tests to make sure the new and remaining equipment was safe and up to proper maintenance codes.
Last modified: December 09, 2009.
