July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Occidental Petroleum Corp. had unplanned maintenance and flared some gases at a plant in Sundown, Texas, according to a report on a state-administered Web site.

The flaring started yesterday at 9 a.m. local time as part of a process to regenerate catalysts at the Slaughter Gasoline Plant after a decline in its sulfur recovery efficiency, the report on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Web said.

The plant, acquired by Occidental in 2000, removes propane and other liquefied petroleum gases from natural gas extracted from the Slaughter oilfield. It doesn't make gasoline.

If the catalyst efficiency doesn't improve, installation of a replacement will take 72 to 96 hours, the filing said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Voss in London at sev@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 4, 2007 05:47 EDT