AUG 8, 2019
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] plans to shut the big crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, by Sept. 5 for a 60-day overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations.
In addition to the 325,000-bpd VPS-5 CDU, Motiva plans to shut the naphtha processing complex, which includes the 115,000-bpd naphtha hydrotreating unit 2 (NHTU2), 85,000-bpd catalytic reformer 5 (CRU 5) and 50,000-bpd isomerization unit for the work, scheduled to finish by Nov. 5, the sources said.
Motiva issued a statement saying that it declined to comment.
While the other units are shut, Motiva has also has scheduled a 10-day shutdown of the 105,000-bpd hydrocracking unit 2 (HCU 2), according to the sources.
VPS-5, the NPC and HCU 2 were all added to the refinery during a five-year, $10 billion expansion that finished in 2012, more than doubling the capacity of the Port Arthur plant.
Some of the work on VPS-5 will include replacement of piping damaged in early June 2012, the sources said.
About six weeks after starting up for the first time, the unit was shut for a week to repair a leak. During the restart in June 2012, thousands of gallons of caustic sodium hydroxide were unknowingly vaporized, causing widespread chemical corrosion and forcing VPS-5 to be shut for seven months of repairs.
The damage to VPS-5 was a factor that led to the split-up of Motiva by co-owners Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco in 2017. Motiva is now a subsidiary of Aramco.
VPS-5 is the largest of three CDUs at the refinery doing the primary breakdown of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units as well as making unfinished motor fuels. The other two CDUs will remain in operation.
Hydrotreaters remove sulfur from motor fuels and their feedstocks in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.
Reformers convert low-octane refining byproducts into high-octane components that are blended into gasoline.
Isomerization units also convert byproducts into components blended into gasoline.
Hydrocrackers convert gas oil into motor fuels, primarily diesel, which is one of the most lucrative products made by U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
