Chevron's Pembroke FCC Still Down, Associated Units Started

By Gianluca Baratti

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said the gasoline-making unit at its Pembroke refinery in Wales is still down.

Chevron started associated units this week, a spokesman who declined to be named said by telephone today. He wouldn't give a date for when the fluid catalytic cracker will be back up.

The units were shut in mid-September for regular maintenance, which happens every five years. Fluid catalytic crackers are involved in gasoline production. The site also has an alkylation plant, used to make components for the motor fuel.

The Pembroke refinery has the capacity to handle 210,000 barrels of oil a day and is Chevron's only oil-processing facility in the U.K. The catalytic cracker has a capacity of 90,000 barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The whole facility was forced to shut at the end of April because of a fault in a steam plant. Processing units were restarted in early May. In August, the alkylation unit was halted for about two days because of a leak.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gianluca Baratti in Madrid gbaratti@bloomberg.net.