Venezuela’s Cardon refinery halted after fire, no injuries reported
Venezuela halted the Cardon refinery, its second-largest with a capacity of 310,000 barrels per day, after a fire was reported following a rupture in a natural gas line, state-run oil company PDVSA said late on Tuesday as it evaluated the situation.
Eight sources with knowledge of the matter earlier confirmed to Reuters that a fire had broken out at the facility, part of PDVSA’s 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center, Venezuela’s largest refining complex.
Two of the sources said the fire started at a gas line to the refinery’s diesel hydrotreater, forcing the shutdown of the entire facility, including boilers.
In its evening statement, PDVSA said it quickly contained the blaze caused by a rupture at about 3:25 p.m. in the natural gas line feeding the boilers. There were no injuries or major damage, it added, and the incident is being investigated.
Fires, power interruptions and outages have been reported at the company’s facilities, and can affect the supply of fuel essential to the domestic market, such as gasoline and diesel.
Videos posted on social media showed large columns of flames and smoke from the refinery. Later photographs from nearby residents showed firefighters at the facility and indicated that the flames had been extinguished.
Reuters could not immediately verify the video content independently, but sources reported seeing the smoke and flames.
Output was halted last month from one of Cardon’s crude distillation units and its fluid catalytic cracker because of insufficient feedstock.