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Motiva prepares to restart Convent, Louisiana hydrocracker - source

(Adds company statement, upcoming ownership split, background)

HOUSTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises LLC is preparing to restart the heavy-oil hydrocracker at its Convent, Louisiana, refinery after shelving plans for three months of piping repair on the unit, a source familiar with plant operations said on Wednesday.

Motiva concluded that X-ray photographs of the piping in the main production sections of the 45,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) hydrocracker, called the H-Oil Unit, had been misinterpreted and repairs were not needed, the source said.

A Motiva spokeswoman, asked about the restart and the conclusions that led to it, declined to comment on the status of individual units at the Convent refinery.

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The decision comes four days before the 235,000-bpd Convent, Louisiana, refinery is scheduled to become solely owned by Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) Oil Co, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LSE: 0LN9.L - news) 's U.S. arm, as part of a negotiated breakup of the Motiva joint venture's assets with partner Saudi Aramco.

The H-Oil unit, which produces motor fuels, primarily diesel, from residual crude oil, has not run at full capacity since an Aug. 11, 2016 fire severely damaged the unit.

The unit has been running at half capacity since late November 2016, following repairs. It was shut on March 3, 2017 ahead of a planned restart at full capacity. A fire broke out on the unit on March 18, 2017 requiring three weeks of repairs.

As the repairs neared completion in early April of this year, Motiva decided to delay the unit’s restart to repair piping in the main production sections. The repairs were expected to last into July.

In the May 1 division of assets, Shell will also become the owner of the 237,700-bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery.

Shell plans to tie the two Louisiana refineries together and operate them as a single plant within a few years, the company has said. The impetus for a combination was the highly profitable H-Oil unit.

Hydrocrackers that produce diesel for export have become major sources of income for Gulf Coast refiners.

The Convent refinery's H-Oil unit is unique because it converts residual crude under high heat and pressure in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst into motor fuel.

Most refineries send their residual crude to a coking unit to produce motor fuel feedstock and make petroleum coke, a coal substitute. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Jeffrey Benkoe)