PDVSA Experiences More Mechanical Failures at Cardon, Amuay Refineries

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.'s (PDVSA) Cardon refinery at the Paraguana Refining Center in Venezuela experienced an electrical failure on July 2, forcing the 51,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) platforming unit offline. The 295,000-BBL/d refinery is currently processing about 219,000 BBL/d.

The electrical failure caused the methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and isomerization units to stop processing, and the Alkylation 2 and hydrodesulfurization units lowered their processing capacity for two hours before resuming normal operation. Maintenance teams had worked on the platforming unit to resume operations by midnight July 2; however, on July 7, a leakage forced the CCR to stop processing, though it was kept circulating. Leak repairs were expected to take about 12 hours in order to have the unit back online by July 8. The MTBE, isomerization, Alkylation 2 and hydrodesulfurization units were to be kept circulating until the CCR is back online.

The planned maintenance turnaround in the 75,000-BBL/d Crude 2 unit began on July 7 is expected to last 30 days. The ongoing Alkylation 1 expansion is set to be completed by mid-August; however, the unit will remain offline until the expansion of the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), scheduled to start on August 15, is completed. For more details, view related July 3, 2008, news article - PDVSA Delays FCCU Expansion Project at Cardon Refinery.

The furfural unit, which has remained offline because of a tower obstruction, was scheduled to be restarted on June 26 but has not been able to resume operation. The unit was expected to begin production on July 8. The delayed coker, which experienced a problem in its F101 drum in May, remained derated and running at 50% of its normal capacity because of inspections; however, all resources have been shifted toward repairing the CCR. If all plans go smoothly, inspections on the delayed coker will be picked up on July 10.

Also at the Paraguana Refining Center, the 70,000-BBL/d Crude 2 unit at the Amuay refinery went offline on July 3, along with the Vacuum 2 unit after a problem arose in the cooling system that affected the unit's valves. Maintenance teams were able to restart the unit on the same day to resume operation on July 4. At the same time, the 115,000-BBL/d Crude 3 unit also went offline; four pumps and rotative equipment broke, causing the unit, along with Vacuum 3, to stop processing at normal capacity. The units were kept circulating, working at almost 20% capacity. The equipment was sent to be repaired and returned on July 6. The unit was restarted early July 7. SRU 1 went offline after the incident but resumed operation with Crude 3. The refinery processed at about 60% of its normal capacity while Crude 2 and Crude 3 were offline; now it is processing 483,000 BBL/d. The only unit offline at the refinery is Hydrogen 1, which began a planned maintenance turnaround on June 29.

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