Valero Three Rivers Refinery Said to Be Restarting Hydrocracker

Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) is restarting a hydrocracker at the refinery in Three Rivers, Texas, after it tripped offline yesterday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The unit, which converts heavy hydrocarbons into lighter, more valuable fuels such as diesel and gasoline, halted after an instrumentation problem, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The refinery reported a unit upset at 6:14 a.m. yesterday. Bill Day, a San Antonio-based spokesman for Valero, said the report was related to an “issue with the hydrocracker.”

The Three Rivers plant can run as much as 100,000 barrels of crude a day. It gets the majority of that from the nearby Eagle Ford shale formation, the company has said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Murtaugh in Houston at dmurtaugh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net