TotalEnergies has resumed operations at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery after a brief shutdown.

The refinery, which has a capacity of 238,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), experienced a malfunction on its fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) unit, resulting in the shutdown of crude distillation units (CDUs) and vacuum distillation units (VDUs). However, the company has confirmed that the FCC-2 unit was back in operation on Friday, according to Reuters.

The malfunction on the FCC unit was reported to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Wednesday and Thursday, with the company informing them of reduced production and steam use on several units. This led to the shutdown of the 150,000-bbl/d ACU-1 CDU and 60,000-bbl/d VDU-2. These units are responsible for converting crude oil into feedstocks for all other units in the refinery.

The ACU-1 unit, which operates at atmospheric pressure, receives crude oil from the FCC unit and breaks it down into feedstocks for other units. Similarly, the VDU-2 unit, which operates at vacuum pressure, receives gunky residual crude oil from ACU-1 and breaks it down into feedstocks for other units. Both of these units have now restarted on Friday, along with the FCC-2 unit.

Meanwhile, the 40,000-bbl/d ACU-2 and 51,000-bbl/d VDU-1 remained idled on Friday.

FCC-2 has struggled to reach full production since completing a three-month overhaul on Nov. 20, sources have told Reuters.

ACU-2 and VDU-1 remained shut until mid-December as FCC-2 was raising its production level.

The FCC-2 overhaul included the replacement of the 1.3-million-pound (590-metric-ton) reactor on the unit.