LyondellBasell Industries NV

15. Pension and Other Post-retirement Benefits

We have defined benefit pension plans which cover employees in the U.S. and various other countries. We also sponsor post-retirement benefit plans other than pensions that provide medical benefits to certain of our U.S., Canadian and French employees. In addition, we provide other post-employment benefits such as early retirement and deferred compensation severance benefits to employees of certain non-U.S. countries. We use a measurement date of December 31 for all of our benefit plans.

Pension Benefits—The following tables provide a reconciliation of projected benefit obligations, plan assets and the funded status of our U.S. and non-U.S. defined benefit pension plans:

Amounts recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheets consists of the following:

Amounts recognized in Accumulated other comprehensive loss include the following:

The following additional information is presented for our U.S. and non-U.S. pension plans:

Pension plans with projected benefit obligations in excess of the fair value of assets are summarized as follows:

Pension plans with accumulated benefit obligations in excess of the fair value of assets are summarized as follows:

Components of net periodic pension costs for our U.S. and non-U.S. plans are as follows:

In May 2022, a LyondellBasell sponsored pension plan purchased a group annuity contract from an insurance company to transfer $361 million of our outstanding pension benefit obligations related to certain U.S. retirees and beneficiaries. The purchase of the group annuity contract was funded with pension plan assets. The insurance company is now required to pay and administer the retirement benefits owed to approximately 9,000 U.S. retirees and beneficiaries with no change to their monthly retirement benefit payment amounts. In connection with this transaction, in the second quarter of 2022, we recognized a non-cash pension settlement loss of $80 million, reflected in Other (expense) income, net, primarily related to the accelerated recognition of actuarial losses included in Accumulated other comprehensive loss.

The actual and target asset allocations for our plans are as follows:

We estimate contributions to our defined benefit plans in 2024 will be $43 million and $54 million for the U.S. and non-U.S. plans, respectively.

As of December 31, 2023, future expected benefit payments by our pension plans which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are as follows:

The following tables set forth the principal assumptions on discount rates, projected rates of compensation increase and expected rates of return on plan assets, where applicable. These assumptions vary for the different plans, as they are determined in consideration of local conditions.

The weighted average assumptions used in determining the net benefit liabilities for our pension plans were as follows at December 31:

The weighted average assumptions used in determining net benefit costs for our pension plans were as follows:

The discount rate assumptions reflect the rates at which the benefit obligations could be effectively settled, based on the yields of high-quality long-term bonds where the term closely matches the term of the benefit obligations. We measure service and interest costs by applying the specific spot rates along that same yield curve to the projected cash flows of the plans. This approach provides a more precise measurement of service and interest costs. The weighted average expected long-term rate of return on assets in our U.S. plans of 7.25% is based on the average level of earnings that our independent pension investment adviser had advised could be expected to be earned over afifteen totwenty year time period consistent with the target asset allocation of the plans, historical capital market performance, historical plan performance (since the 1997 inception of the U.S. Master Trust) and a forecast of expected future asset returns. The weighted average expected long-term rate of return on assets in our non-U.S. plans of 3.57% is based on expectations and asset allocations that vary by region. We review these long-term assumptions on a periodic basis.

Actual rates of return may differ from the expected rate due to the volatility normally experienced in capital markets. Assets are externally managed by professional investment firms over the long term to achieve optimal returns with an acceptable level of risk and volatility in order to meet the benefit obligations of the plans as they come due.

Our pension plans have not directly invested in securities of LyondellBasell N.V., and there have been no significant transactions between any of the pension plans and the Company or related parties thereof.

The pension investments that are measured at fair value are summarized below:

Certain non-U.S. plans have investments in a pooled asset portfolio which are treated as a nonparticipating insurance contract. The associated plan assets underlying the insurance arrangement are measured at the cash surrender value, which is derived primarily from an actuarial determination of the discounted benefits cash flows. As such, these assets are considered as using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3). These defined benefits pension plan assets at December 31, 2022 were valued at $492 million and has decreased to $474 million at December 31, 2023. The change is due primarily to the reduction of the assets in relation with the increase of the discount rate from 2022 to 2023.

The fair value measurements of the investments in certain entities that calculate net asset value per share as of December 31, 2023 are as follows:

The fair value measurements of the investments in certain entities that calculate net asset value per share as of December 31, 2022 are as follows:

Other Post-retirement Benefits—We sponsor unfunded health care and life insurance plans covering certain eligible retired employees and their eligible dependents. Generally, the medical plans pay a stated percentage of medical expenses reduced by deductibles and other coverage. Life insurance benefits are generally provided by insurance contracts. We retain the right, subject to existing agreements, to modify or eliminate these benefits.

The following tables provide a reconciliation of benefit obligations of our unfunded other post-retirement benefit plans:

Amounts recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are as follows:

Amounts recognized in Accumulated other comprehensive loss are as follows:

The components of net periodic other post-retirement costs are as follows:

The following tables set forth the assumed health care cost trend rates for our U.S. and Non-U.S. Plans:

The health care cost trend rate assumption does not typically have a significant effect on the amounts reported due to limits on maximum contribution levels to the medical plans.

The weighted average assumptions used in determining the net benefit liabilities for our other post-retirement benefit plans were as follows:

The weighted average assumptions used in determining the net benefit costs for our other post-retirement benefit plans were as follows:

As of December 31, 2023, future expected benefit payments by our other post-retirement benefit plans, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, were as follows:

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss—In 2023, pension benefits actuarial loss and other post-retirement benefits actuarial gain of $146 million and $4 million, respectively, are primarily due to changes in discount rate assumption and updated actuarial assumptions. In 2022, pension benefits actuarial gain and other post-retirement benefits actuarial gain of $281 million and $65 million, respectively, are primarily due to changes in discount rate assumption and updated actuarial assumptions.

Deferred income taxes related to amounts in Accumulated other comprehensive loss include provisions of $90 million and $53 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Defined Contribution Plans—Most employees in the U.S. and certain non-U.S. countries are eligible to participate in defined contribution plans (“Employee Savings Plan”) by contributing a portion of their compensation. We make employer contributions, such as matching contributions, to certain of these plans. The Company also has a nonqualified deferred compensation plan that covers senior management in the U.S. This plan was amended in April 2013 to provide for Company contributions on behalf of certain eligible employees who earn base pay above the IRS annual compensation limit.

The following table provides the Company contributions to the Employee Savings Plans: