LyondellBasell terminating all operations in Iran amid US sanctions

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LyondellBasell ending Iran operations

WASHINGTON — LyondellBasell Industries NV will terminate all its operations in Iran, a country long subject to U.S. government sanctions where the big European-based plastics maker has had some non-U.S. subsidiaries doing business.

The company also will cease all business with Syria and Sudan, where it had more limited operations, David Harpole, a LyondellBasell spokesman in Houston, said Tuesday. The company is seeking approval from U.S. regulators to allow employees who are U.S. citizens help unwind the activities from outside the countries, he said.

President Barack Obama signed a bill last month imposing tough new sanctions against Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program. The new law targets exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran, and bans U.S. banks from doing business with foreign banks that provide services to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Penalties against companies violating the sanctions could follow.

“LyondellBasell is committed to complying with all applicable sanctions, laws and regulations imposed by the United States,” Harpole said in a telephone interview.

He said the company’s new management team decided late last year not to conduct any new business in the three countries. LyondellBasell, one of the world’s biggest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, soon will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange — a factor that Harpole said figured in the decision.

Much of the company’s business in the three countries involves licensing technology for plastics production, he noted.

LyondellBasell’s decision was first reported Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that U.S. employees would help unwind operations from outside the countries)