HOUSTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp may begin the shutdown of the small gasoline unit at its 451,000barrel per day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texasas early as Monday, according to a regulatory filing.
Sources have told Reuters that Marathon plans to permanentlyshut the 60,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCC) 1 byJune 1 to comply with an agreement to cut pollution from therefinery reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In the notice filed with the Texas Commission onEnvironmental Quality on Monday, Marathon said pollution inexcess of permitted levels may be released between Monday andJune 6, indicating the period when production will cease on theunit.
Marathon chose to close FCCU 1 instead of making amultimillion-dollar investment to upgrade pollution controlequipment on the unit, the sources said. The unit was firstbuilt during World War Two and has been upgraded many times.
The 120,000 bpd FCCU 3 will remain in operation after FCCU 1is shuttered. Another FCCU was closed by previous owner BP Plc and demolished by Marathon in 2013. (Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by G Crosse)