Marathon says Garyville units in squential start-up

NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N) said Tuesday that some new units at its 256,000 barrel per day Garyville, Louisiana, refinery were already in sequential start-up with the crude unit start-up seen in mid-November.

Other units, including a hydrocracker, will be started up after the crude unit, with the process seen completed by year end, a company executive told analysts in a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings.

But he also reiterated that the refinery will have an extended planned turnaround on existing units in early January. The Garyville refinery is undergoing a major expansion to increase its oil refining capacity.

The entire facility, the existing base and expansion, is expected to reach full refining capacity by the second quarter of 2010, Marathon said in its third-quarter earnings release earlier in the day. (Reporting by Haitham Haddadin; Editing by John Picinich)