HOUSTON: Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to begin restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) on Monday night at its 318,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The 70,000-bpd FCC was shut on Jan. 11 to repair a leak following a malfunction in the unit's expander, the sources said.

A Shell spokesman was not immediately available on Monday to discuss operations at the Deer Park refinery.

FCCs use a fine powder catalyst to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline.

The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint-venture between Shell and Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico's national oil company.