Shell to revamp US Convent FCC, abandons shutdown plans for now

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Shell intends to refurbish its fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at its Convent refinery, rather than decommissioning the unit in 2018 as part of an integration project of its Louisiana assets, a company spokesperson confirmed on Friday.

The source declined to provide a timeline for the turnaround, as well as an expected start-up.

In March 2015, former Shell and Saudi Aramco joint venture Motiva Enterprises announced plans to integrate its 235,000 bbl/day refinery at Norco and 230,000 bbl/day refinery at Convent and create the Louisiana Refining System.

As part of the integration, the Maurepas pipeline system would be built to connect the LOCAP terminal to the Norco refinery. Once the pipelines were completed, Motiva planned to idle the FCC at its Convent refinery.

In March 2016, Shell and Saudi Aramco announced plans to separate the assets of Motiva, with Shell assuming sole ownership of the two Louisiana refineries, nine distribution terminals and other Shell-branded assets. The transaction was completed in May 2017.

“Post Motiva separation, Shell re-evaluated the cat cracker end-to-end economics and determined that the business case was strong to run the FCCU for another cycle,” Shell spokesperson Ray Fisher said.

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