Economy
Lengthy maintenance downtime in three out of the major domestic refineries in Venezuela, taking longer than planned, has undermined production, curtailed gasoline inventories in the refining circuit and could also endanger the availability of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used to fill domestic gas canisters in some sites.

State-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) started last August 2008 a programmed halt for 110 days in order to widen up the catalytic cracking units for gasoline production at Cardón refinery, which forms part of the Paraguaná Refining Center. However, so far the operations are lagging behind for 260 days. This unit has a processing capacity of 92,000 bpd of oil.

The same happens to the cracking unit at El Palito Refinery, in central Carabobo state, with a capacity of 77,000 bpd. The facilities were subject last March 5th to major maintenance for 60 days, which is still ongoing.

According to Pdvsa sources, the units of crude oil, distillation, gasoil and solvents at El Palito have started operations, except for the cracker.

In addition, there was a sudden halt due to a malfunction of the catalytic unit at Amuay Refinery, with a processing capacity of 108,000 bpd. However, commissioning is expected over the next few days.

An operator at Cardón Refinery disclosed that the inventories available at the domestic refining compound have dropped, as maintenance works have taken too long. As a result, Pdvsa has had to bring in gasoline from Isla, a refinery based in Curacao and part of Pdvsa network, to fulfill its commitments. It has also resorted to the imports from Brazil, said the source.

For its part, Pdvsa spokespersons told El Universal that the maintenance works are in conformity with the schedule.

Nonetheless, some sources think that the protracted halt at Cardón are depleting the stocks of domestic gas canisters. The Cardón facilities supply LPG to the states of Falcón, Carabobo, Aragua and Yaracuy.

In view of the glitches, Pdvsa is thinking of producing out-of-range gasoline, a source disclosed.

Translated by Conchita Delgado

Deisy Buitrago
EL UNIVERSAL