Large Crude Unit Shut at Lyondell's Houston Refinery

Lyondell Basell Industries shut the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston oil refinery on Tuesday to begin repairs to the cooling water system, said two sources familiar with plant operations.

Prior to being shut, the 147,000-bpd 537 CDU was circulating at minimum operating levels following the severe winter weather that hit the Houston area on Feb. 15, the sources said.

Lyondell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray declined to discuss the status of individual units at Lyondell’s Gulf Coast assets.

“Power has been restored to our U.S. Gulf Coast asset locations and personnel are performing storm-related repairs,” Gray said. “When repairs are complete and raw materials and utilities become available, we will safely resume operations.”

Lyondell shut the 120,000-bpd 536 CDU on Feb. 1 for planned maintenance.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler and Christian Schmollinger)