(Adds detail about chem plant flaring, paragraph 4)
HOUSTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc's U.S. unit Shell Oil Co began maintenance on Wednesday at itsNorco, Louisiana, chemical plant, a Shell spokeswoman said.
Shell posted a notice Wednesday on the St. Charles Parishwebsite warning residents in the area of flaring from thechemical plant and refinery complex in Norco between May 1 andMay 6.
The adjoining 233,500 barrel per day (bpd) refinery isoperated by Shell's joint-venture Motiva Enterprises LLC. Saudi Aramco is 50-50 partner in Motiva.
Energy industry intelligence service Genscape has said theShell Norco chemical plant was flaring from an ethylene crackeron Wednesday. The ethelyne cracker is scheduled for maintenancesometime this year, according to Genscape. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick andDavid Gregorio)