LyondellBasell Industries is restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) after completing the restart of the large crude distillation unit (CDU) on Thursday at its 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery.
The 147,000-bpd Unit 537 CDU is the first to restart since the refinery was shut on Feb. 15 by severe cold weather. The 90,000-bpd FCC could be back in production by early next week, the sources said.
Lyondell spokesman Chevalier Gray declined comment.
Unit 537 along with the Unit 536 CDU breaks down crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units in the refinery.
The FCC uses a catalyst to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline.
Source: Reuters
