Fire nearly out at Marathon Galveston Bay Texas Refinery, sources say

HOUSTON, June 14 (Reuters) - A fire on the resid hydrotreater (RHU) was nearly extinguished on Saturday afternoon at Marathon Petroleum Corp's MPC.N 631,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, said people familiar with plant operations.

No injuries were reported from the fire on the 64,000 bpd RHU, which uses hydrogen to remove sulfur and process residual crude oil for production of motor fuels, the sources said.

Production was cut back on the gasoline-producing 140,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracker 3 (FCC-3) and the 115,000 cat feed hydrotreater due to the fire.

A Marathon spokesperson said all personnel were accounted for at the refinery, which is the largest in the United States. The refinery's fire fighting department battled the blaze.

The Texas City Fire Department also deployed to the refinery, the city's Emergency Management Department said.

Texas City residents were told to stay inside their homes with windows closed and air conditioners off to prevent exposure to smoke from the fire for about an hour and a half on Saturday afternoon, according to the emergency management department.

Residual crude oil is the gunky, tar-like oil left after completion of multiple steps in the process of refining crude oil in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Texas City is located 42 miles (68 km) southeast of Houston.