A 460,00 bpd blow for Bush, and not by Monica

BP shuts gasoline production unit

Unclear whether shutdown is related to explosion at the refinery that
forced a production cut.

August 1, 2005: 6:27 AM EDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP PLC has shut a gasoline-producing fluidic
catalytic cracking unit at its 460,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in
Texas City, Texas, for maintenance repairs, according to a notice filed
with Texas environmental regulators.

It was unclear from the notice filed with the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality if the shutdown of FCCU No. 2 was related to an
explosion at the refinery Thursday that forced the plant to cut
production. (Full story.)

The Texas City refinery is the third largest in the United States. It
produces about 3 percent of the gasoline made in the country. FCCU No.
2 is one of three gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking units
at the refinery.

A BP (down $0.67 to $65.88, Research) spokesman was not immediately
available to discuss refinery operations.

No one was hurt in Thursday's explosion, but it cut crude oil
processing by 70,000 bpd, reduced gasoline output by 35,000 bpd and
boosted crude oil prices by 63 cents a barrel on Friday to $60.57 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Thursday's blast occurred in a residue hydrotreating unit that uses
hydrogen to remove sulfur from gunky, heavy "bottom of the barrel"
hydrocarbons and increase the amount of gasoline and distillate
produced from a barrel of crude.

BP said Thursday's blast was due to internal cracking in a thick steel
pipe on the unit.

A March 23 explosion in an octane-enhancing unit at the Texas City
refinery killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 other people.

.

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