(Adds details, company spokesman not immediately available)
HOUSTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc
began the permanent shutdown of the 211,146 barrel-per-day (bpd)
Convent, Louisiana refinery on Monday night, sources familiar
with plant operations said on Tuesday.
Shell said on Nov. 5 it would permanently shutter the
refinery after failing to find a buyer for the plant, which had
become unprofitable because of reduced demand during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
A Shell spokesman was not immediately available on Tuesday
morning.
Shell will keep the refinery on the market after it
completes the shutdown by the Christmas holiday, the sources
said.
Shell shut the 12,000-bpd isomerization unit on Monday night
and was shutting the 36,000-bpd diesel hydrotreater on Tuesday,
the sources said.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by Louise Heavens and
Bernadette Baum)