---

Dan Smith Elected Director of Cooper Industries

4 August 1998

Dan Smith Elected Director of Cooper Industries

    HOUSTON, Aug. 4 -- Dan F. Smith, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Lyondell Chemical Company, has been elected to the Board
of Directors of Cooper Industries, Inc. to fill a vacancy created
by the May 1998 retirement from the Board of Frank A. Olson.  With Smith's
election, Cooper's Board continues to have 12 members.
    Smith, 52, also serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of
Equistar Chemicals LP, a joint venture between Lyondell, Millennium Chemicals,
Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp.  Smith joined Atlantic Richfield Company
(ARCO) in 1968, following his graduation from Lamar University in Beaumont,
Texas.  He served in a variety of management positions before joining Lyondell
when the company was formed in 1985.  He was named Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors shortly
before Lyondell became a public company in 1989.  He subsequently served as
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer before being named
President in 1994 and Chief Executive Officer in December 1996.
    Lyondell Chemical Company, with headquarters in Houston, Texas, is the
world's largest producer of propylene oxide (PO); the world's number two
supplier of polyols and TDI (toluene diisocyanate); a leading producer of
propylene glycol; and a leading producer of other PO derivatives.  Lyondell
operates or has a majority ownership position in businesses with total annual
sales revenues of $13 billion.  Lyondell also produces refined petroleum
products through its majority interest in Lyondell-CITGO Refining Company.
    Cooper Industries, with 1997 revenues of $5.3 billion, is a diversified,
worldwide manufacturer of electrical products, tools and hardware, and
automotive products.  Additional information about Cooper is available on the
company's World Wide Web site: http://www.cooperindustries.com.