What happened

LyondellBasell wound down and ceased crude refining at its 263,776 bbl/d Houston refinery by the end of March 2025, after efforts to sell the 700-acre site failed to find a buyer; the company had originally planned to exit refining as early as 2023. About 400 of roughly 1,200 employees and contractors were laid off, and the site is being redeveloped as an integrated circular and low-carbon industrial hub. This was a voluntary commercial closure, not an incident or attack.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.