MOSCOW (MRC) -- A 91 Mbpd vacuum distillation unit (VDU) was shut due to a pump failure Tuesday at LyondellBasell Industries' 263 Mbpd Houston refinery, Gulf Coast market sources said, reported Reuters.
Lyondell was working to determine the cause of the pump failure Tuesday night and return the unit to operation overnight or sometime Wednesday, the sources said.
The VDU is one of two vacuum units of the same size at the refinery. It takes residual crude oil from the 120 Mbpd crude distillation unit and processes it in a vacuum, increasing the yield of motor fuel feedstock.
Similar VDU outages in the past have forced the refinery to reduce production.
There are two CDUs at the refinery. Both remained in operation on Tuesday night, the sources said. The CDUs do the initial refining of crude oil coming in to the refinery and provide feedstock for all other units.
As MRC informed before, this year, Fluor Corp. announced that LyondellBasell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, had selected Fluor to perform front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for its proposed propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol plant. Fluor said it booked the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2015. The plant will be the world’s largest of its type and will be located at LyondellBasell’s existing Channelview and Bayport Choate complexes in Texas. The scope includes a 1-billion lb/year propylene oxide and a 2-billion lb/year tertiary butyl alcohol plant at the Channelview site, an ethers plant at the Bayport Choate site, as well as associated infrastructure. Front-end design activities are expected to be completed in 2016.
LyondellBasell is one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 56 sites in 19 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
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