UPDATE 1-BP says Texas City FCC still operating after leak

HOUSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said a 62,000 barrel per day (bpd) gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at its giant Texas City refinery continued to operate on Tuesday morning following a propane leak.

Workers at the 460,000 bpd refinery in Texas City, Texas, remained inside their units while the local fire department was called to the plant as a precaution, said BP spokesman Scott Dean.

"There was no ignition," Dean said. "It was just a leak. Things are returning to normal at the refinery."

Leaking propane can trigger large fires at a refinery. In February 2007, a propane leak caused a fire that shut Valero Energy Corp's (VLO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 170,000 bpd McKee refinery in Sunray, Texas, for two months. The refinery did not return to full production until December.

The Texas City refinery has two cat crackers. FCC No. 1 is the smaller of the two.

BP's Texas City refinery is returning to full production after shutting down when Hurricane Rita threatened the Texas coast in September 2005 and caused extensive damage to refinery piping and FCC equipment.

The refinery was the site of a deadly March 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 180 others.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is investigating the January death of a supervisor at the refinery who was killed when a 500-pound lid blew off a hydrocracker filter. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Jim Marshall)