Unplanned Shutdown Forces Platforming Unit Offline at PDVSA's Willemstad Isla Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On February 1, 2008, the platforming unit at the Willemstad Isla refinery, operated by Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA in Curacao, was shut down because of a problem with the boiler. Maintenance on this unit, along with the rest of the HDX complex, is scheduled to begin on February 8, 2008, and last 30 mechanical days.

PDVSA also owns the Paraguana Refining Center (Centro de Refinacion Paraguana), one of the largest refining centers in the world and Venezuela's main source of gasoline exports that is composed of the Cardon and Amuay refineries. Cardon refinery, in Falcon state (Venezuela), has a 295,000-barrel-per-day (BPD) production capacity and 30 processing units.

Thermal cracker 1 is offline and not running as a crude distillation unit. When problems arise in crude units, thermal crackers are often transformed into crude distillation units. Thermal cracker 1 is scheduled to be restarted in this mode in October 2008 when the planned turnaround on thermal cracker 2 is performed. View related January 22, 2008, article - Willemstad Isla Refinery Maintenance Scheduled.

The planned turnaround in the HDX complex scheduled to begin on February 8, 2008, which involved platforming, naphtha hydrotreatment, polymerization plant, mild hydrocracking lubes hydrotreatment and tail gas, has not been modified except for the reformer unit. The latter had to be shutdown a week before the stipulated date because of a boiler problem. The maintenance team is already working on it, and it will also regenerate the catalyst. Although there have not been any modifications on the refinery's crude processing capacity after the platforming unit was shut down, authorities had scheduled lower rates for the rest of the month. The Willemstad Isla refinery has a maximum processing capacity of 320,000 (BPD); however, it generally processes 240,000 BPD because the middle conversion and treatment units cannot handle high production levels. During the HDX complex's planned maintenance turnaround, the refinery is set to process 201,000 BPD. The units are to be restarted by March 10, 2008.

On January 28, 2008, sulfur recovery unit (SRU) 3, which had been offline since mid-October 2007, was restarted without problems, and it is currently running, along with SRU 4, normal rates. SRU 5 has been on standby mode since February 2, 2008, and it is expected to be restarted by the end of the month to replace SRU 4 while the 12-mechanical-day maintenance work in the latter is carried out. Minor repairs in SRU 1 and 2 are being performed; both units will be ready in 10 days and will be kept on standby mode to be used if problems in the online sulfur recovery units occur. HV6 has been on standby since its last turnaround in July 2007 and is expected to be restarted if a planned or unplanned shutdown in the currently online HV7 unit is performed. As of February 6, 2008, all processing units at the refinery, except thermal cracker 1, HV6, platforming, and SRU 1, 2 and 5 are online and processing at normal rates.

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