Marathon's Galveston Bay gasoline unit may begin shutdown Monday-filing

HOUSTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp may begin the shutdown of the small gasoline unit at its 451,000 barrel per day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas as early as Monday, according to a regulatory filing.

Sources have told Reuters that Marathon plans to permanently shut the 60,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCC (Other OTC: FCIC - news) ) 1 by June 1 to comply with an agreement to cut pollution from the refinery reached with the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . Environmental Protection Agency.

In the notice filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Monday, Marathon said pollution in excess of permitted levels may be released between Monday and June 6, indicating the period when production will cease on the unit.

Marathon chose to close FCCU 1 instead of making a multimillion-dollar investment to upgrade pollution control equipment on the unit, the sources said. The unit was first built during World War Two and has been upgraded many times.

The 120,000 bpd FCCU 3 will remain in operation after FCCU 1 is shuttered. Another FCCU was closed by previous owner BP Plc and demolished by Marathon in 2013. (Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by G Crosse)