Marathon Petroleum restarts key fuel units at Texas refinery, sources say

By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum MPC.N is restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit and diesel-producing Ultracracker hydrocracking unit (HCU) at its 631,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, said people familiar with the plant's operations.

Marathon plans to complete repairs to the fire-damaged 64,000-bpd residual hydrotreater (RHU) at the Galveston Bay Refinery in mid-November, the sources said, a month later than planned.

Marathon spokesperson Jamal Kheiry declined to discuss operations at the Galveston Bay Refinery, which is the second largest by capacity in the United States.

The 140,000-bpd FCCU and 60,000-bpd Ultracracker were shut following a malfunction on October 16, the sources said.

Marathon aims to complete the restart of both units over the weekend, sources said.

The RHU suffered severe damage from a fire on June 14. Most sections of the unit have resumed production, but the largest 400-production section, where the fire occurred, is still under reconstruction, sources said.

FCCs use a fine silica-powder catalyst to convert gas oil under high heat and pressure into unfinished gasoline.

HCUs use high heat and pressure in the presence of hydrogen to convert gas oil into diesel and other motor fuels.

Hydrotreaters use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuel and their feedstocks in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.