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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s
45,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) heavy oil hydrocracker at its Convent, Louisiana,
refinery remained shut following a Sunday fire, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar
with plant operations.
Also, the refinery’s 92,000-bpd gasoline-producing
fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) may be shut up to two weeks for repairs
to a malfunctioning compressor, the sources said.
Shell spokesman Ray
Fisher declined to comment on operations at the 209,787-bpd Convent
refinery.
On Sunday, Fisher said there were no injuries or offsite impact
from the early morning fire at the heavy oil hydrocracker, called the H-Oil
Unit.
Shell attempted to restart the H-Oil Unit late on Sunday, the
sources said.
The FCCU was completely shut for a planned overhaul from
May 30 until Thursday, when workers were attempting to get products from the
unit back into specification. A compressor on the unit began malfunctioning with
excessive vibration, the sources said.
The H-Oil Unit is an atypical
hydrocracker because it converts residual crude oil into motor fuels, especially
diesel. Residual crude is normally processed by coking
units.
Hydrocrackers use hydrogen and a catalyst under high heat and
pressure to produce motor fuels, usually starting with gas oil as a
feedstock.
FCCUs use a catalyst under high heat and pressure to convert
gas oil into gasoline.
The planned overhaul on the FCCU is intended to
keep the unit in operation for another five years. Until last year, Shell had
planned to shutter the FCCU to reduce redundant operations at the company’s two
refineries in Louisiana, which are to be linked by pipelines.
As MRC informed before,
in March 2018, Shell EP Middle East Holdings B.V. completed the sale of the
entire share capital of Shell Iraq B.V (SIBV), which held its 19.6% stake in the
West Qurna 1 oil field, for USD406 million, to a subsidiary of ITOCHU
Corporation.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales,
has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and
New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70
countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and
production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to
liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and
renewable energy projects. |
