Valero Port Arthur refinery shuts large CDU, coker
(Reuters) Valero Energy Corp. shut the large crude distillation unit and a coking unit on Monday night at the 335 Mbpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery as part of an ongoing plant-wide overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations.
The 268 Mbpd AVU-146 CDU is scheduled to be shut for four weeks, while the 100 Mbpd coker is scheduled to be shut until late October, the sources said.
During the overhaul, which began in late August, the refinery's two crude distillation units, a hydrocracker, a coker and a reformer among other units are scheduled to be shut for planned work. Gasoline and diesel production are planned to be reduced, but not shut down, sources told Reuters in June.
Crude distillation units do the initial refining of crude oil coming into the refinery and provide feedstock for all other units. Cokers refine residual crude oil into motor fuel feedstock or petroleum coke, a substitute for coal.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney
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