HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises was restarting a hydrotreater that was shut by a Feb. 24 fire atits 235,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Convent, Louisiana,according to a local media report over the weekend.
A refinery spokesman told the Baton Rouge Advocate in anarticle published online on Saturday that Hydrotreating Unit No.2 was expected to be fully operational by Sunday night.
An error by a worker dismantling a scaffold on thehydrotreater is believed to have set off the blaze, according toa report that the company filed on Friday with Louisianapollution regulators.
The worker was trying to strike a scaffold bar with ahammer, according to the report. The worker missed and insteadstruck tubing on the hydrotreater, knocking it loose andreleasing hydrogen and diesel, according to the report.
There were no injuries reported due to the fire, which wasextinguished about an hour after it began.
A hydrotreater removes sulfur in compliance with U.Senvironmental rules while gasoline and diesel are being producedat a refinery. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Jan Paschal)