refineriacardon

Reuters: Cardón Refinery halts operations after fire

The fire started in a gas pipeline connected to the refinery’s diesel hydrotreater.

The Cardón refinery, Venezuela’s second-largest, with a capacity of 310,000 barrels per day, halted operations because of a fire in one of its processing units, eight sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Fires, power supply disruptions and blackouts are common at facilities operated by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (Pdvsa) and can affect supplies of essential fuels to the domestic market, such as gasoline and diesel.

The fire started in a gas pipeline connected to the refinery’s diesel hydrotreater, forcing the entire facility, including its boilers, to shut down, according to two of the sources.

PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment. The fire was extinguished less than an hour later, after several explosions and the evacuation of staff, the sources and local residents said. No workers were reported injured.

Cardón is part of PDVSA’s Paraguaná Refining Center—the country’s largest complex—which has a processing capacity of 955,000 barrels per day.

Videos posted on social media showed huge columns of flames and smoke billowing from the refinery. Later, photographs shared by residents showed firefighters at the facility and the flames already extinguished. The news agency could not immediately verify the contents of the videos, but other sources said they had seen flames and smoke at the refinery, Reuters reports.

#PDVSA #venezuela #petróleo #PetroleoVenezuela #refineriaCardon $CL $BZ