(Adds company no reply; background on units)
HOUSTON, May 29 (Reuters) - A crude distillation unit (CDU)
malfunction triggered a multi-unit outage early on Friday at
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd)
Norco, Louisiana, refinery.
A Shell spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.
The shutdown of the 240,000-bpd CDU following the
malfunction led to a loss of feed to the 25,000-bpd coker and
40,000-bpd hydrocracker, which then shut down, the sources said.
CDUs break down crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for
all other production units at the refinery. Cokers refine
residual crude oil from distillation units into feedstock for
motor fuels or petroleum coke, a coal substitute.
Hydrocrackers use a catalyst under high heat and pressure in
the presence of hydrogen to convert gas oil into diesel and
other motor fuels.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Grant McCool)
