PDVSA Struggles to Maintain FCCU Production, an Industrial Info Market Brief

Venezuela's state-owned refiner, PDVSA, is unable to maintain steady production among the fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) at its refineries. The 77,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) FCCU unit at its 295,000-BBL/d Cardon facility remains offline due to a lack of feedstock since July, and a restart date is unknown.

A turnaround and revamp of the 80,000-BBL/d FCCU at the 625,000-BBL/d Amuay refinery, originally set to take place later this year, were accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been ongoing since mid-March. The Amuay cat cracker is expected to return online by September.

On August 14, PDVSA was forced to shut down the 70,000-BBL/d FCCU and associated units at its 140,000-BBL/d El Palito facility due to a leak at the cat cracker; restart date is unknown.

The 15,000-BBL/d FCCU at the 181,500 BBL/d-Puerto La Cruz site has been offline since third-quarter 2019 due to financial constraints, restrictions and other factors. A restart tentatively has been set for this month.