LyondellBasell Industries announced net income for the second quarter 2021 of $2.1 billion, or $6.13 per share. Second quarter 2021 EBITDA was $3.0 billion.   

 

"LyondellBasell's outstanding results demonstrate that our company continues to be well positioned to benefit from the ongoing global economic recovery. Persistent consumer and industrial demand enabled us to establish new benchmarks for profitability during the second quarter."

 

"In both of our Olefins and Polyolefins segments, strong demand supported price and margin improvements resulting in record quarterly EBITDA. Reopening and increased mobility are driving higher demand for transportation fuels and improving margins for our Oxyfuels and Refining businesses. During the period, we operated all of our available capacity near full rates to begin rebuilding depleted inventories and addressing our customers' backlogs," said Bob Patel, LyondellBasell CEO.

 

"LyondellBasell's growth investments are evident in our results as these new assets expanded the earnings power of our global portfolio and enabled the company to generate $1.9 billion in cash from operations during the quarter. As evidence of our increased confidence to sustain cash flows through cycles, we raised our quarterly dividend by 7.6 percent. Additionally, the strong cash flow allowed us to reduce net debt from $13.6 billion to $12.7 billion with more deleveraging planned for the second half of 2021. Our robust cash generation is supporting rapid progress toward our goal of further strengthening our investment grade balance sheet," said Patel.    

 

"We expect demand for LyondellBasell's products and our associated financial results to remain stronger for the foreseeable future. Three broad themes support our convictions. First, as we work to overcome the challenges of variants, the phased rollout of vaccines and the progression of societal reopening around the world should support robust global demand for our products in both the manufactured goods and service industries for several quarters to come. Second, as our customers seek to address order backlogs, rebuild inventories and serve pent up consumer demand, we expect strong integrated polyethylene margins to continue. Third, increasing mobility during the second half of 2021 should drive higher demand for gasoline and jet fuel providing additional tailwinds by improving margins for our Oxyfuels & Related Products and Refining businesses." 

 

"LyondellBasell is benefiting from a series of value driven growth investments coming to fruition in an exceptional market environment. Our investments in growth and sustainability should enable the company to continue establishing new benchmarks for profitability and provide a step change in the power of our cash generation. We remain committed to strengthening our investment grade balance sheet and expect to reduce our net debt by up to $4 billion in 2021. LyondellBasell is emerging from the pandemic stronger and is well positioned to continue capturing opportunities through all stages of the business cycle," Patel said.