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HOUSTON, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises LLC plans to overhaul a hydrocracking unit at its 233,500barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery in February,sources familiar with operations at the refinery said onThursday.
The Norco refinery also plans to overhaul the refinery'ssole crude distillation unit in October, the sources said.
The hydocracker overhaul is expected to take about 30 days,they said.
A Motiva spokesperson was not immediately available todiscuss planned work at the Norco refinery.
A hydrocracking unit uses hydrogen under high pressure toproduce motor fuels diesel and gasoline. A hydrocracker producesmore diesel fuel than a gasoline-producing fluidic catalyticcracking unit. Diesel has become a lucrative export for U.S.refiners.
A crude distillation unit is the workhorse of a refinery,doing the initial refining of crude oil and providing feed forall other units at the plant.
The CDU has a rated capacity of 233,500 bpd, according tothe U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Motiva is a 50-50 joint venture between Royal Dutch ShellPlc and Saudi Aramco. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Andrew Hay)
