Explosion Underscores Venezuelan Refiner's Operational Problems, an Industrial Info Market Brief

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An October 27 explosion at the vacuum tower of the 120,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Crude Distillation 4 Unit at PDVSA's 625,000-BBL/d Amuay Refinery in Venezuela shut down all operational units at the facility. The Crude Distillation 4 Unit was offline for inspections at the time of the explosion.

Meanwhile, the 295,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Cardon Refinery, also run by PDVSA in Venezuela, was forced to take several units offline due to utility and financial constraints: the 75,000-BBL/d Crude Distillation 2, 70,000-BBL/d Crude 3, 75,000-BBL/d Crude 4, 51,000-BBL/d CCR and the 77,000-BBL/d FCCU.

PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned refiner, is not able to achieve solid and secure operations at its facilities. Low budgets and a lack of maintenance have forced refineries to run at minimum rates. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the scenario by reducing the number personnel as equipment continued to deteriorate.

Click here for a list of projects at the Amuay and Cardon refineries, and see map below.