Houston FCC down until mid-Oct – Valero

02 October 2008 23:52  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US refiner Valero’s fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit at its Houston refinery will be down for repairs until mid-October, the company said on Thursday.

The San Antonio-based company said that the FCC unit was not damaged by Hurricane Ike, which forced the shutdown of the refinery ahead of the storm. Hurricane Ike made landfall on 13 September near Houston as a Category 2 hurricane.

The refinery has a through-put capacity of 140,000 bbl/day, according to the company's website.

Spokesman Bill Day said that the FCC repairs began on 26 September, and the “problems with the unit were discovered during the restart process after the hurricane-induced shutdown”.

Day said that about 60,000 bbl/day of gasoline and 30,000 bbl/day of distillate production will be lost.

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By: Steven McGinn
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