THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -The Motiva Port Arthur refinery operated by Shell Oil reported that the fluid catalytic cracking unit went offline due to equipment failure Friday morning, according to a filing submitted to state environmental regulators.
The FCCU, a key gasoline making unit, shut down after a series of processes malfunctioned. At about 9:22 a.m. CST on Jan. 8, a transmitter in a boiler failed and allowed water to flow into a high pressure system to the FCCU and other units. That water caused the FCCU’s wet gas compressor to trip and the lift air blower to shut, which caused the entire FCCU unit to shut down, the report said.
“Operators stabilized the unit and put the unit into circulation,” the company stated. Shell declined to comment about the status of the FCCU or the broader impact on refinery operations for competitive reasons. The incident caused flaring activity to burn off emissions that lasted until early Saturday morning.
The Motiva Port Arthur refinery, 50% joint venture between units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) and Saudi Aramco, has the capacity to process 275,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
-By Naureen S. Malik, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4210; [email protected]
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