FCC at Marathon’s Galveston Bay Refinery to Remain Shut Until Late Next Week

The fire-damaged, gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at Marathon Petroleum's (MPC.N) 593,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, is expected to be shut until late next week, said people familiar with plant operations on Friday.

Repairs to ductwork damaged in a Thursday fire on the 140,000-bpd FCC will last into next week, the sources said. The restart of the unit will follow the successful completion of the repairs.

Marathon spokesperson Jamal Kheiry declined to comment on Friday.

The Thursday night fire in the FCC's regenerator began from a packing leak on a slide valve, the sources said. The fire was short in duration with the unit's operators putting it out before firefighters arrived.

Investigators from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are beginning a probe of the fire, the sources said.

No injuries were reported from the Thursday fire.

In the regenerator, carbon is removed from the fine powder catalyst that converts gas oil into unfinished gasoline in the FCC's reactor. Removing the carbon extends the life, improving the efficiency of the catalyst.

The Galveston Bay Refinery is the fourth largest by capacity in the United States.

In a May 15 fire on a reformer at the Galveston Bay Refinery, a Marathon employee was killed and two contract workers were injured.

A contract worker was also killed in March at the refinery when he was electrocuted.

Two giant storage tanks burned to the ground on Aug. 25 at Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana refinery creating a massive black smoke plume. Residents within two miles of the refinery were ordered to evacuate. Two minor injuries were reported.

The Garyville refinery is the third largest in the United States.

Marathon is the largest U.S. refiner. Its 13 refineries have a combined capacity of 2.9 million bpd, or 16% of national capacity.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler, Diane Craft and Cynthia Osterman)