HOUSTON, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lyondell Chemical Company (NYSE: LYO) issued the following status report on the Channelview, Texas, olefins plants.

On March 1, the two olefins plants at Channelview were forced to shut down by a utilities outage at Reliant Energy's cogeneration plant. One of the plant's olefins units will be returning to service this week. The second olefins unit at Channelview is expected to be out of service for one to two weeks for maintenance. Lyondell's propylene oxide facilities at Channelview have not been interrupted. The affected olefins units are part of its Equistar Chemicals, LP subsidiary's network of seven olefins sites.

ABOUT LYONDELL

Lyondell Chemical Company, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America's third-largest independent, publicly traded chemical company. Lyondell is a major global manufacturer of basic chemicals and derivatives including ethylene, propylene, titanium dioxide, styrene, polyethylene, propylene oxide and acetyls. It also is a significant producer of gasoline blending components. The company has a 58.75 percent interest in Lyondell- Citgo Refining LP, a refiner of heavy, high-sulfur crude oil. As a result of Lyondell's November 30, 2004 acquisition of Millennium Chemicals Inc., Millennium and Equistar Chemicals, LP are wholly owned subsidiaries of Lyondell. Lyondell is a global company operating on five continents and employs approximately 10,000 people worldwide.

SOURCE: Lyondell Chemical Company; Equistar Chemicals, LP

CONTACT: investors, Doug Pike, +1-713-309-4590, or media, David Harpole,
+1-713-652-4125, both of Lyondell Chemical Company

Web site: http://www.lyondell.com/