Venezuela halted operations at the Cardon refinery, the country’s second-largest, with a capacity of 310,000 barrels per day, after a fire caused by a ruptured gas pipeline. State oil company PDVSA reported this late on October 6 while assessing the situation, UNN writes, citing Reuters.
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Eight sources familiar with the matter earlier confirmed to the publication that a fire had broken out at the facility, which is part of PDVSA’s 955,000-barrel-per-day Paraguana Refining Center.
Two sources said the fire began on a gas pipeline leading to the refinery’s diesel hydrotreater, forcing the entire facility to shut down, including its boilers.
In its evening statement, PDVSA said it had quickly contained the fire, caused by a rupture at around 3:25 p.m. local time in the gas pipeline leading to the boilers. There were no injuries or serious damage, the statement added, and the incident is under investigation.
Fires, power outages and shutdowns are common at the company’s facilities and can affect supplies of fuel needed for the domestic market, such as gasoline and diesel.
Videos posted on social media showed huge columns of flames and smoke billowing from the refinery. Later photographs showed firefighters at the facility and the fire extinguished. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the authenticity of the videos, but sources said they had seen smoke and flames.
Last month, production was halted at one of the crude distillation units at Cardon and at its fluid catalytic cracking unit due to insufficient feedstock.