Saudi Aramco and its U.S. refining joint venture Motiva Enterprises are the front-runners to acquire LyondellBasell's Houston refinery, Reuters reported last Tuesday. The Aramco-Motiva group and Suncor Energy exchanging proposals with LyondellBasell last week, with Aramco-Motiva emerging as the leading contender, according to the report. Little was heard about another potential buyer, Valero Energy Corp, the sources said.

LyondellBasell's 263,000 bbl/day refinery has been valued at approximately $1.5 billion.

The LyondellBasell refinery's base oil plant has a capacity to produce 3,600 barrels per day of naphthenic and 1,000 bpd of API Group II base oils. Motiva Enterprises LLC operates a 40,300 bpd capacity API Group II base oil plant in Port Arthur, TX.

In March, Saudi Aramco and Shell announced plans to separate the assets of Motiva Enterprises, with its 603,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur refinery and 40,300 bpd Group II base oil plant in Port Arthur, Texas, becoming solely owned by Saudi Arabian Oil.

An announcement of the sale by LyondellBasell was expected at the end of this past week, but as of press time, no announcement was forthcoming.