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☆ Catalytic cracking unit at Venezuela's Cardon refinery shut down
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, June 2 (Reuters) - The catalytic cracking unit at Venezuela's Cardon refinery, the country's second-biggest, has broken down and paused operations since the middle of the week, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday. Venezuela's refining network has the capacity to process 1.3-million-barrels per day but it suffers frequent production problems. The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) plant refines oil into other products with greater commercial value, such as gasoline. The refinery restarted one distillation unit on Friday after a failure, while a second unit remains shutdown. The catalytic cracking unit at Amuay, Venezuela's largest refinery, has been shutdown for repairs since March, impacting production of gasoline.

Persons: PDVSA, Deisy, Oliver Griffin, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Reuters, Paraguana Refining, Thomson Locations: CARACAS, Cardon, Venezuela's, Amuay, Caracas

The unpaid invoices originated with dozens of little-known companies acting as middlemen for Venezuela's oil exports since U.S. sanctions in 2020 halted deals with international trading firms and customers. Venezuela's Attorney General's office in October began a probe after oil tankers absconded without full payment to PDVSA. Venezuela's oil ministry and PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Maroil boosted Venezuela's petcoke exports following a commercial pact with PDVSA in 2016. In Venezuela, two heavy oil upgrading facilities controlled by PDVSA, Petro San Felix and Petrocedeno, produce and store petcoke.

☆ Exclusive: Iran to start revamp at Venezuela's largest refining complex within weeks - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Mircely Guanipa | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The companies are now expected to sign in the coming weeks a 460-million-euro contract to revamp the 955,000-bpd Paraguana refinery complex on the coast of western Venezuela, according to the sources. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian arrived in Caracas on Friday and met Venezuela's oil minister Tareck El Aissami, according to tweets from the Iranian embassy in Caracas and Venezuela's oil ministry. PDVSA, NIORDC and Venezuela's oil ministry did not reply to requests for comment. A QUARTER OF CAPACITYA project to restore the complex's dilapidated power supply is also planned as part of the revamp, according to the sources. During the El Palito revamp, PDVSA sent home hundreds of Venezuelan workers to make way for the Iranian technicians, which triggered protests.

[1/5] Drivers wait in line to get gasoline amid repeated outages at refineries operated by state oil company PDVSA and a lack of imports of diesel and gasoline, in Maracay, Venezuela, December 9, 2022. In 2020 and again in 2021, drivers had to line up for days to get gasoline and farmers halted work because of insufficient diesel. Right after midnight, the station ran out of gasoline," said Ramon Blanco, a 32-year-old who filled up the next day at another station. But lines also have reappeared in Falcon state, home of PDVSA's largest oil refineries. "We are trying our best because we are under pressure to restart some plants for producing gasoline," said a worker from Amuay.

☆ Venezuela's biggest refinery halts gasoline production -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A refining unit that turns crude oil into fuel at Venezuela's largest crude processing facility has broken down, three people familiar with the operations told Reuters on Friday, halting production at the key gasoline producing plant. The breakdown of the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) caused the country's largest refinery, 645,000 barrel per day (bpd) Amuay on the Paraguana peninsula, to halt gasoline production on Thursday, one of the sources said. Venezuela's refineries suffer frequent outages leading to production losses due to system failures and lack of supplies. Amuay, together with the nearby Cardon refinery, make up the Paraguana Refining Center (CRP) in Venezuela's western Falcon state, with a combined crude processing capacity of 955,000 bpd. Cardon's catalytic cracker, which can process up to 45,000 bpd, was still operational on Friday, the sources said.

☆ Venezuela's largest refining complex halted after blackout -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MARACAY, Venezuela, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A small fire at a vacuum tower and a power blackout halted Venezuela's 955,000-barrel-per-day Paraguana Refining Center early on Thursday, according to six sources close to operations. The blackout affected the entire complex, which ties together the Amuay and Cardon oil refineries, essential for supplying fuel for domestic use. "Everything is stopped, there's not even electricity in the offices," said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe fire, which began in a vacuum tower at Amuay, was controlled hours later, one of the sources said. State oil company PDVSA, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was attempting to restore power in the refineries, which remained halted later in the morning.

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