HOUSTON (Reuters) - A hydrocracking unit was shut by a lightning strike on Friday at BP Plc's 406,570 barrel per day (bpd) Texas City, Texas, refinery, a company spokesman said.

The shutdown of the hydrocracker triggered a fire in a pipe flange on the unit. The fire was brought under control by the refinery's fire-fighting unit, said BP spokesman Scott Dean in a statement.

There were no injuries reported due to the fire.

On Friday night, BP did not have an estimate of when the hydrocracker would restart.

A hydrocracker uses hydrogen to increase the production of motor fuel from a barrel of crude oil.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Gary Hill)