(Adds company no comment, possible length of repairs,
background)
HOUSTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc
pushed back the restart of its 318,000 barrel-per-day (bpd)
joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery to March 13, said
sources familiar with plant operations on Monday.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith declined comment.
Shell had planned to restart the 270,000-bpd DU-2 crude
distillation unit (CDU), the largest at the refinery, by early
this week, the sources said.
Shell is continuing repairs at the refinery to enable it to
restart from the Feb. 15 shutdown because of cold weather, the
sources said. Repairs could last until April.
The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint venture between
Shell and Mexican national oil company Pemex. Shell is
the managing partner.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler)