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HOUSTON, May 9 (Reuters) - BP Plc is preparing anupgraded crude distillation unit at its 405,000 barrel per day(bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery for start-up in June, energyindustry intelligence service Genscape said on Thursday.
BP is heating the furnaces of the CDU, known as Pipestill12, Genscape said. Further, BP has removed caps that had been inplace on the unit's furnace stacks during the upgrade andcompleted connections to a new flare tower. A large crane andsafety equipment have been removed from near the CDU.
Sources familiar with refinery operations have told ReutersBP plans to begin starting up Pipestill 12 in late May, but it'slikely the unit will not resume production until sometime inJune.
BP has said the $4 billion project to expand the refinery'sintake of crude oil from Canada's tar sand fields in Alberta ison schedule to finish in the second half of this year.
On completion of the work, which began in November, therefinery will be able to run 350,000 bpd of Canadian crude.Prior to the work, the refinery could process 80,000 bpd ofcrude from Canada.
Genscape also said heavy work appeared to be continuing onCoker No. 2 at the refinery.
BP has shifted its U.S. refining strategy to focus onrefineries in the northern tier of the United States that arebetter able to access cheaper crude oil from Canada.
In February, BP sold its Texas City, Texas, refinery toMarathon Petroleum Corp. BP also has a pending sale ofits Carson, California, refinery to Tesoro Corp awaitingapproval from U.S. and California regulators.
Two other crude distillation units at the Whiting refineryremain in operation.
Crude distillation units do the initial refining of crude oilcoming into a refinery and provide feedstocks for all otherunits.
A coker increases the amount of refinable material obtainedfrom a barrel of oil and converts gunky residual crude intopetroleum coke, a coal substitute. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
