Shell Restarts 2nd Stage of Hydrocracker at Norco Refinery

Royal Dutch Shell Plc completed restarting the second stage of the hydrocracker at its 227,400 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery, sources familiar with plant operations said on Tuesday.

A Shell spokesman declined to comment.

The second stage of the 40,000-bpd hydrocracker was taken out of production on June 8 because of a malfunction, the sources said. The first stage of the hydrocracker continued to operate while the second stage was shut.

Hydrocrackers convert gas oil or other feedstocks into diesel and other motor fuels by using a catalyst in the presence of hydrogen under high heat and pressure.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba)