LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) will increase its quarterly dividend by 60.0 percent to $0.40 per share in 2012. In November 2011 the dividend was already raised by 25.0 percent and on top of that a special dividend of $4.50 per share was paid by the Rotterdam (Netherlands) based chemicals company.

The dividend increase is the third for LyondellBasell since the company paid its first dividend of 10 cents per share in the second quarter of 2011.

LyondellBasell Industries is a plastics, chemicals and refining company. Its chemicals businesses consist of large processing plants that convert large volumes of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon feedstocks into plastic resins and other chemicals. The company's refining business consists of its Houston refinery, which processes crude oil into refined products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Lyondell also develops and licenses chemical and polyolefin process technologies and manufactures and sells polyolefin catalysts. The company's six reportable segments are: Olefins and Polyolefins—Americas, Olefins and Polyolefins—Europe, Asia, International, Intermediates and Derivatives, Advanced Polymer Solutions, Refining and Technology. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. was incorporated in the Netherlands in 2009 and became a public company in 2010. A dividend has been paid every year since 2011.