(Adds background on FCC unit, other details)
HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) - BP Plc has completedthe mechanical work required in an overhaul of agasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at its405,000 bpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery, sources familiar withrefinery operations said on Tuesday.
Initial steps to prepare the unit for restart are under way,the sources said. No definite date for resuming production hasbeen set.
BP shut down the FCC on Feb. 24 to begin the plannedoverhaul, which was expected to last at least six weeks.
A BP spokesman declined to discuss operations or maintenanceplans at the Whiting refinery.
Energy industry intelligence service Genscape has reportedthe heating has begun on the FCC in preparation for a restart.
The sources said the heating was to prepare the unit forrestart, but BP was continuing the slow, careful approach theWhiting refinery followed in the past year for starting new andrefurbished units after completion of a $4 billion project toenable the plant to run more Canadian crude oil.
The FCC work is not part of that revamp. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Matthew Lewis)
BP (BP.)
