PDVSA's Cardon Refinery Slowed by Equipment Outages

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA said its 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon refinery was hit by an electrical fault during a weekend storm, resulting in the halting of some units.

A storm on the Paraguana peninsula knocked out electricity late on Saturday, the company said in a statement.

"Operating personnel took immediate control of the installations and proceeded to halt the affected units as a preventative measure," it said.

A PDVSA spokesman on Monday could not say what units were affected or whether they had been restarted.

The nearby 645,000 barrel-per-day Amuay refinery is being restarted after a blackout had shut it down Tuesday night.

PDVSA said it still had enough fuel inventories to cover domestic and international demand.

 

By Andrew Cawthorne