(Recasts with Motiva Port Arthur shutdown timeline)
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Production at MotivaEnterprises' two largest refineries will be cut forat least one month by damage from fires, sources familiar withoperations at the company's Port Arthur, Texas, and Convent,Louisiana, plants said on Thursday.
At the nation's largest crude oil refinery, Motiva's 600,000barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur plant, the largest crudedistillation unit will be shut between four and six weeks whiledamage is repaired on a neighboring hydrocracking unit.
The CDU at the 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Convent,Louisiana, refinery is expected to be shut for at least fourweeks after a fire on a nearby catalytic reformer.
The 325,000 bpd Port Arthur CDU, called VPS-5, was shut onSunday following a fire at the hydrocracker on Saturday.
"As long as that hydrocracker is down, the CDU will be shut,or until they find someone to buy the vacuum gasoil," said oneof the sources at the Port Arthur refinery.
The hydrocracker processes vacuum gasoil (VGO) from VPS-5into motor fuel.
"The only hope is they get some double-hulled tankers tosend the VGO someplace else," one of the sources said. "It'salmost impossible to find them."
The double-hulled tankers are required by U.S. law to moveoil and petroleum products between U.S. ports.
At the Convent refinery, the fire on Monday heavily damageda catalytic reformer, which converts refining byproducts intoadditives for gasoline, forcing the crude unit to shutdown.
A Motiva spokeswoman declined to discuss operations.
Saturday's fire at the Port Arthur refinery heavily damagedcommunication cables and instruments required to operate thehydrocracker.
A crude distillation unit is the workhorse of a refinery,doing the initial refining of crude oil coming into the plantand providing feedstocks for all other units.
Two other CDUs, with a combined refining capacity of 285,000bpd, continue to operate at the Port Arthur plant. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick andAndre Grenon)
