Pass code for both numbers is 36941.
In the first quarter, earnings more than doubled from the same quarter of last year to $3.18 per share.
LyondellBasell's first quarter net income improved by 25% relative to the fourth quarter as we earned approximately $1.6 billion of EBITDA.
Strong cash generation enabled us to pay down $500 million of debt in January and end the first quarter with nearly $5 billion of cash and available liquidity.
After the quarter closed, we paid down an additional $500 million of debt in April.
In the days after the Texas freeze, North American PG exports fell by 13% for the month of February, and we expect the March data to reflect further decline in exports.
It will likely require quite some time before North American polyethylene industry can fulfill backlogs, satisfy domestic demand and returned to last year's pace of selling 40% of production into the export market to serve global demand.
We look forward to continued progress on our journey toward our goal of 0 injuries.
Over the past 70 years, our polymers have played a central role in advancing modern living by reducing food waste with protective packaging, delivering safe drinking water through plastic pipes and advancing healthcare with sterile and affordable devices and equipment.
With the introduction of our Circulen product line, we are making further progress toward LyondellBasell's goal of producing and marketing two million metric tons of recycle- and renewal-based polymers annually by 2030.
As you can see in the chart, Hyperzone HDPE blended with 25% PCR can still exceed the crack resistance of standard polyethylene by 70%.
Northeast Asian demand increased by an astounding 23% driven by the postpandemic strength of the Chinese economy.
Since imports account for approximately 40% of China's demand needs for polyethylene, China's growth benefited LyondellBasell's production sites in the United States and the Middle East that export polyethylene to China.
Global demand for polyolefins has grown by 14% over the past two years, far above the long-term trends of 4% and 5% annual demand growth for polyethylene and polypropylene, respectively.
Strong global demand and constrained production have supported polyethylene contract price increases of $950 per metric ton in the US from May 2020 through March of this year, with $420 per ton occurring since November and more than $300 per ton of additional price increases on the table for April and May of 2021.
Most consultants now believe that global polyolefin demand grew by approximately 4% in 2020, similar to growth rates seen consistently over the past 30 years.
Adjusting these forecasts to 4% demand growth for both '20 and '21 results in a predicted operating rate shown by the dotted gray line.
Last quarter, we suggested that 2021 would likely follow the patterns seen after prior recessions, and this year's demand growth could be higher than the historical trend of 4%.
A 7% growth in demand during 2021 for only one year with reversion to the historical mean in 2022 and beyond would generate the robust operating rate forecast depicted by the dotted orange line.
Today, with global polyolefin demand growing in the first quarter by 14% over the past two years, we are even more confident that the recovering economy is likely to facilitate a more orderly absorption of this new capacity by the global market, which should support robust margins.
Over the last 12 months, LyondellBasell converted almost 80% of our EBITDA into $3.4 billion of cash from operating activities.
In the first quarter of 2021, our businesses delivered over 40% more free operating cash flow relative to the same period last year.
In the first quarter, while paying dividends of $352 million and investing a similar amount in capital expenditures, we reduced the balance on our term loan by $500 million to close the first quarter with cash and liquid investments of $1.8 billion.
After the quarter closed, we repaid an additional $500 million on the term loan in April.
We continue to be on track to invest approximately $2 billion in capital expenditures during 2021, targeted equally toward profit-generating growth projects and sustaining maintenance.
And based on expected volumes and margins, we estimate that the third quarter EBITDA impact due to lost production associated with planned maintenance across the company will increase by $30 million to $75 million.
In total, the EBITDA impact associated with all of LyondellBasell's 2021 planned maintenance downtime should decrease by $30 million relative to our original guidance to approximately $140 million for the year.
In the first quarter of 2021, LyondellBasell's business portfolio delivered EBITDA of $1.6 billion.
This was an improvement of more than $300 million relative to the fourth quarter, exceeding typical first quarter seasonal trends.
On the left side of the chart, our all-time high quarterly EBITDA, excluding LCM of approximately $2.2 billion reported in the third quarter of 2015, provides useful perspective.
Third quarter EBITDA was $867 million, $145 million higher than the fourth quarter.
Olefin results increased approximately $155 million compared to the fourth quarter.
The ethylene cracker at the joint venture ran continuously throughout the weather events and exceeded ethylene nameplate operating rates by 9% during March.
Polyolefin results for the segment decreased by about $15 million during the first quarter.
During the first quarter, EBITDA was $412 million, $161 million higher than the fourth quarter.
Olefins results increased $30 million driven by increased margins and volumes.
Demand was robust during the quarter, and we increased volumes by operating our crackers at a rate of 98%, almost 10% above industry benchmarks for the first quarter.
Combined polyolefin results increased approximately $150 million compared to the prior quarter.
First quarter EBITDA was $182 million, $14 million lower than the prior quarter.
First quarter Propylene Oxide & Derivatives results decreased by approximately $35 million due to lower volumes, offsetting stronger margins driven by tight market supply.
Intermediate chemical results decreased about $55 million due to lower volumes as a result of the weather events.
Oxyfuels and related products results increased by approximately $25 million as a result of higher margins benefiting from improved gasoline prices that were partially offset by constrained volumes.
First quarter EBITDA was $135 million, $9 million higher than the fourth quarter.
Advanced Polymer results increased by approximately $15 million due to both higher margins and volumes.
First quarter EBITDA was negative $110 million, a $36 million decrease versus the fourth quarter of 2020.
Higher cost for renewable fuel credits, or RINs, and lower crude throughput overwhelmed improvements in the Maya 2-1-1 industry crack spread.
In the first quarter, the Maya 2-1-1 crack spread increased by $5.21 per barrel to $15.32 per barrel.
As a result of the Texas weather event, the average crude throughput at the refinery fell to 152,000 barrels per day.
First quarter Technology segment EBITDA was $94 million, $49 million higher than the prior quarter.
In the years following the 2008 Great Recession, our company nimbly captured the benefits of low-cost feedstocks that arose from the development of North American oil and gas resources.
LyondellBasell typically delivered between $6 billion to $7 billion of EBITDA over the past 10 years.
Our EBITDA after LCM inventory adjustments reached $8.1 billion in 2015 during my first year as CEO of our company.
Increased utilization of our capacity should provide greater visibility on the more than $200 million in synergies that we've built into the business since acquiring A. Schulman.
In 2020, we added 500,000 tons of polyethylene capacity utilizing our next-generation Hyperzone technology.

Summary:
In the first quarter, earnings more than doubled from the same quarter of last year to $3.18 per share.