Motiva Port Arthur 2nd largest crude unit restarts -sources

(Adds Motiva no comment, flaring, lube oil production.)

HOUSTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The 195,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude distillation unit at Motiva Enterprises' 600,250 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery was running at a minimal production level following a restart on Friday night, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The unit was shut on Tuesday to repair a leaking pipe, said the sources. The CDU was restarted early on Friday and then shut down due to another leak Friday afternoon. The unit returned to production on Friday night.

A Motiva spokeswoman declined to discuss refinery operations.

"For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we do not provide details about the operational status of individual units or information on supply," said Motiva spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh.

The refinery did use its safety flare system on Saturday due to a malfunction on 19,200 bpd lube oil hydrocracker after returning the lube oil production stream to normal operation on Saturday, the sources said.

Members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) began a strike early on Saturday morning at the Port Arthur refinery, which is the nation's largest. Motiva is a 50-50 joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) and Saudi Aramco

(Reporting by Erwin Seba, Editing by Franklin Paul)