$VLO $MPC $PSX $DK $CLMT VALERO TO ACQUIRE FORMER LYONDELL HOUSTON REFINERY Valero is buying LyondellBasell's idled Houston refinery for $320.5M and plans to restart 165,000 barrels per day of light sweet crude capacity by year-end 2027, with the option to invest later in high-complexity, heavy sour processing. The site sits adjacent to Valero's existing Houston refinery on the Houston Ship Channel. Close is expected by end of 2026, subject to HSR review. THE PRICE IS THE STORY $320.5M for 165,000 barrels per day of restarted capacity is roughly $1,940 per daily barrel, against a greenfield replacement cost north of $25,000 per barrel. The plant ran at about 268,000 barrels per day before Lyondell shut it in early 2025, so Valero restarts roughly 62% of former nameplate and holds the rest of the 700-acre site as an option. Even with $1B of restart capex, the all-in cost is a third or less of replacement value. At a $10 per barrel margin, 165,000 barrels per day generates about $600M of gross margin a year. THE PHASING IS DISCIPLINED Light sweet first is the cheap restart: no conversion complexity, Midland-type crude, barrels into the market fast. The heavy sour, high-complexity investment is framed as an opportunity, not a commitment. Valero is buying the option on complexity rather than paying for it today, the same pattern the European majors showed in their third quarter prints: no greenfield sanctions, windfalls banked or returned. ADJACENCY IS REAL SYNERGY The site neighbors Valero's existing Houston refinery. Shared crude and product logistics, tankage, pipelines, and slate optimization across the two plants are concrete, and the combined footprint makes Valero the dominant refiner on that stretch of the Ship Channel. WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THE MARKET A refiner does not buy a cold plant to restart it into a glut. This is Valero underwriting product tightness into 2028 with its own money. The barrels land by year-end 2027, so it is a 2028 supply event, sized at about 0.9% of US refining capacity: real, but small enough for the fade already priced into the late 2027 crack curve to absorb. WHAT TO WATCH • The restart capex and return profile in the Valero 8-K presentation • The environmental liability structure: Valero is buying the holding company, which can carry legacy obligations • HSR clearance for combining the two adjacent Houston refineries ------------------ (MT Newswires) -- Valero Energy's (VLO) Valero Refining-Texas unit signed a definitive deal to acquire LYB Houston Hub Holdings from a LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) subsidiary for $320.5 million, according to a Friday statement. LYB Houston indirectly owns a facility of about 700 acres that operated as a petroleum refinery, Valero said. This facility is adjacent to Valero's Houston refinery and presents an expansion opportunity, the company added. The company said it also sees an opportunity to invest later in high-complexity processing capacity for heavy sour crude. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, and Valero said it plans to initially restart 165,000 barrels per day of light sweet crude processing capacity at the facility by the end of 2027.