BP restarting long-idle refinery

BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company by market value, will begin restoring a gasoline-making unit in Texas City, Texas, to operation after a three-year shutdown, according to a filing with state regulators.

The ultra former Number 3 unit was scheduled to start up at 8 a.m. local time today after closing in 2005, the filing said. The process will last until Dec. 3. The plant has been restoring units to operation since its shutdown in 2005, following a hurricane and an explosion that killed 15 workers.

``We expect Texas City to be back to its full economic capability before this year-end after production restarts on'' the ultra former, Byron Grote, BP's chief financial officer, said in a conference call Oct. 28.

The refinery, BP's largest in the U.S., can process 475,000 barrels of crude oil a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department.