Marathon to Overhaul Several Units at Galveston Bay Refinery

Marathon Petroleum Corp plans to shut the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker 3 (FCC 3) at its 585,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, in mid-February for a planned overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations on Wednesday. The 140,000-bpd FCC 3, 31,500-bpd alkylation unit 3 (Alky 3) and 75,000-bpd Ultraformer 3 (UU 3), along with a hydrotreater, will shut for the overhaul, scheduled to finish by the end of March, the sources said.

Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry declined to discuss operations at the refinery.

FCCs use a fine powder catalyst to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline. Alkylation units convert low-octane byproducts from FCCs into components that boost octane in mid and premium gasoline grades. The Ultraformer is a reformer that through a different process also converts refining byproducts into octane-boosting components added to gasoline.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)