HOUSTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp said onTuesday that the central crude oil refining unit at its 245,000barrel-per-day (bpd) Richmond, California, refinery would remainshut through the rest of the year.
The San Francisco Bay-area refinery's crude distillationunit was shut by an Aug. 6 fire and the plant's production ofmotor fuel has been cut by at least half since the blaze, makingCalifornia gasoline markets more volatile.
The Aug. 6 fire, which erupted from a length of pipe on thecrude unit, is being investigated by federal and state agencies.As many as 15,000 people in the San Francisco Bay area claim tohave been affected by the smoke plume released by the fire.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Jim Marshall)
((erwin.seba@thomsonreuters.com)(713 210 858)(ReutersMessaging: erwin.seba.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: REFINERY OPERATIONS/CHEVRON RICHMOND