(Adds company comment, details on restart impact)
HOUSTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc's 316,600 barrel per day (bpd) joint-venture refinery inDeer Park, Texas, was attempting to restart its maingasoline-producing unit on Monday, said sources familiar withplant operations.
The 70,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracking unit was taken outof production on Wednesday for repairs to a overhead pipelinethat was leaking naphtha.
A Shell spokesman said a start-up was underway at the DeerPark refinery, but declined to say which units were involved.
"We have two of our process units in planned start-up mode,"said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher. "There is a possibility ofelevated flaring during this start-up. We are taking steps tominimize any flaring. There is no danger to the surroundingcommunity or our industry neighbors."
The sources said the restart of the FCCU was also affectingthe saturated gas plant at the Deer Park refinery.
The refinery is a joint-venture between Shell and Mexico'snational oil company Petroleos Mexicanos. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
