Marathon Galveston Bay, Texas, (U.S.) FCC expected to be shut until late this week
(Reuters) - The fire-damaged, gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at Marathon Petroleum's 593,000 bpd Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, is expected to be shut until late this week, said people familiar with plant operations.
Repairs to ductwork damaged in a last Thursday fire on the 140,000-bpd FCC will last into next week, the sources said. The restart of the unit will follow the successful completion of the repairs.
Marathon spokesperson Jamal Kheiry declined to comment.
The Thursday night fire in the FCC's regenerator began from a packing leak on a slide valve, the sources said. The fire was short in duration with the unit's operators putting it out before firefighters arrived.
Investigators from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are beginning a probe of the fire, the sources said.
No injuries were reported from the Thursday fire.
In the regenerator, carbon is removed from the fine powder catalyst that converts gas oil into unfinished gasoline in the FCC's reactor. Removing the carbon extends the life, improving the efficiency of the catalyst.
The Galveston Bay Refinery is the fourth largest by capacity in the United States.
In a May 15 fire on a reformer at the Galveston Bay Refinery, a Marathon employee was killed and two contract workers were injured.
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