Motiva to overhaul Port Arthur CDU, FCC in 2015 -sources

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HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises LLC plans to overhaul a crude distillation unit and only gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at its Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the nation's largest, in February 2015, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

The overhaul of the 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) CDU, called VPS-4, and 92,000 bpd FCCU at the 600,000 bpd Port Arthur refinery is expected take at least 45 days, the sources said.

The refinery's continuous catalytic reformer will be shut during the February 2015 overhaul along with VPS-4 and the FCCU, the sources said.

A Motiva spokeswoman declined on Thursday to discuss the refinery's maintenance plans.

Motiva had moved all overhauls to Port Arthur refinery units to 2015 after two studies performed for Motiva co-owners Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco found the refinery was not ready to carry out a major overhaul project this year, sources have told Reuters.

During the overhaul, the Port Arthur refinery's two other CDUs, including the 325,000 bpd VPS-5 completed in 2012, will remain in operation, the sources said. The two CDUs have a combined crude oil intake of about 400,000 bpd.

Crude distillation units do the initial refining of crude oil coming into the refinery and provide feedstocks for all other units.

The FCCU produces gasoline and the continuous catalytic reformer converts refining byproducts into octane-boosting components to blend with gasoline.

The FCCU receives feedstock from VPS-4. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Andre Grenon and Leslie Adler)