Unexpected FCCU Problems Force Venezuela's PDVSA to Import Gasoline

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) (Caracas) has been forced to import gasoline due to expansion work and repetitive unplanned shutdowns at the company's Fluid Catalytic Cracking units, which are in different locations around the country.

The completion of the expansion project on the 51,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) FCCU and 18,000-BBL/d Alkylation units at the 127,000-BBL/d refinery in El Palito, Carabobo, which began on March 4 and involves the complete overhaul of all the processing units, is to be completed by the end of September. The units are set to be back online by mid-October. The refinery's 140,000-BBL/d Crude and the 71,000-BBL/d Vacuum and BTX units have been online since June 10.

On August 27, the company was forced to shut down the 130,000-BBL/d Flexicracker unit at its 635,000-BBL/d Amuay refinery due to tubes leaks. As a result, the Alky unit is being kept offline, while the 85,000-BBL/d Crude 1 and 120,000-BBL/d Crude 3 have been placed into hot-oil circulation. The FCC at this refinery previously had been shut down for 11 days in early August due to issues with the reactor.

Completion of the ongoing expansion work at the Cardon Refinery's FCCU and Alkylation units has been delayed several times this year. Maintenance began in mid-February 2008 on the 11,000-BBL/d Alkylation unit to increase the unit's capacity from 1,500 tons per day to 2,400 tons per day. The FCCU project, which began in August 2008, aims to expand the unit's capacity from 11,000 tons per day to 12,800 tons per day, along with several other processing units. The units originally were scheduled to restart in mid-January, and again in March and April; however, authorities have been informed that the restarts again have been rescheduled, now to mid-October because of the lack of workforce and inclement weather.

The 52,000-BBL/d FCCU at the Willemstad Isla, Curacao, refinery remains offline since August 27 after all the processing units at the facility were forced to shut down due to an unexpected power outage. The 45,000-BBL/d Crude 2 A, the 8,000-BBL/d Feed Crack 1 and the Alkylation units also are kept offline. Separately, the cat cracker's fractionator is having its catalyst removed. Main authorities expect to restart the offline units by September 5.

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