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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...e-18457533.php

Soon-to-close Houston refinery is part of DOE's $1.2B hydrogen hub plan in Houston

Amanda Drane,
Staff Writer
Oct. 30, 2023
Updated: Oct. 30, 2023 6:09 p.m.

LyondellBasell confirmed its plans to convert its Houston refinery into a hydrogen facility during an earnings call Friday, saying the soon-to-be-shuttered facility is now on track to participate in Houston’s HyVelocity hydrogen hub, one of seven hubs selected earlier this month by the Biden administration to receive as much as $1.2 billion each in federal funding.

Though the Biden administration’s decision to include the Houston hub is a significant development, LyondellBasell CEO Peter Vanacker said during the call, “a lot of steps” stand stand between the company and redevelopment of its refinery along the Houston Ship Channel.

“In the transformation of our Houston refinery, we have multiple projects that we are currently looking at,” Vanacker said, noting the potential to use equipment and pipeline connections at the site for use in its plastics production.

Other members of the HyVelocity hydrogen hub include the University of Texas at Austin, oil majors Chevron and Exxon, gas supplier Air Liquide, AES Corp., Mitsubishi Power Americas, Ørsted, Sempra Infrastructure, the nonprofit Center for Houston’s Future and GTI Energy, a research-and-development nonprofit.

LyondellBasell, a multinational chemicals giant headquartered in Houston, has not made a final decision about how it will repurpose the Houston refinery, which it plans to close in early 2025. It originally intended to close the facility this year but delayed those plans to firm up the site’s afterlife and allow for a smoother transition for the roughly 1,000 people who work at the facility — believed to be the oldest in Houston.