Lyondell Benefits From North American Feedstock Cost Advantage

LyondellBasell is focused on making its existing portfolio more resilient by divesting assets in Europe. It’s also increasing its production presence in North America, where it mostly operates today due to access to cheap natural gas inputs. Lyondell converts that gas into higher-value commodity chemicals and plastics, which are typically price-linked to crude oil. Earnings move in tandem with this spread between natural gas and oil. The firm is one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world, manufacturing ethylene, propylene, and myriad chemical derivatives. These products are building blocks for downstream chemicals and plastics. They also carry a wide array of end-market uses, such as packaging, automotive, construction, and fuel.