Cardon Refinery Lowers Rates after Small Fire

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--PDVSA's Cardon refinery in the Paraguana Refining Center experienced a fissure on May 3, 2008, in a welding and drum seal of its delayed coker unit that eventually led to a small fire in the middle distillation unit (MDU). The F101 drum has been isolated until repairs are complete. The fire broke out in the GA1018 pump and was immediately controlled. The unit has been able to process 500 tons per day with the help of its two other pumps.

Maintenance work is being performed, and the unit is expected to be online today. Alkylation 1 is still under maintenance, and the LPG unit is being insulated with polyurethane flexible foam in order to resume operation by May 7, 2008. The remaining units are online.

The 650,000 BBL/d Amuay refinery, which is also part of the refining center, is currently processing 411,000 BBL/d because its crude 3 and vacuum 3 units are undergoing maintenance until May 14, 2008. The delayed coker and HDS4 units are also offline and are expected to resume operation today. The rest of the processing units in the plant are running without problems.

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