(Adds company comment, expected length of reformer outage)
HOUSTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The crude distillation unit atthe Motiva Enterprises 235,000 barrel per day (bpd)Convent, Louisiana, refinery is running below full productionlevels as repairs continue following an Aug. 19 fire, accordingto sources familiar with operations at the refinery.
The CDU was damaged in the fire, which broke out on thecatalytic reformer, sources have said.
The initial estimate was that the crude unit, which does theinitial refining of crude oil in the refinery and supplies allother production units, would be shut for up to a month forrepairs.
Motiva was able to find a repair that enabled the refineryto partially restore production on the CDU over the weekend, thesources said.
"The Motiva Convent Refinery is currently operating asplanned," said Motiva spokeswoman Destin Singleton.
Crude oil was being fed into the unit at about one-third ofits 235,000 bpd capacity as of Tuesday night, the sources said.
Motiva is a 50-50 joint venture between Royal Dutch ShellPlc and Saudi Aramco.
The reformer, which converts refining byproducts intogasoline additives and ancillary units, is expected to be shutfor up to a month for repairs. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Terry Wade, BernadetteBaum and Chris Reese)