A fire forced the shutdown of Venezuela’s Cardón refinery, the country’s second-largest refinery with a processing capacity of about 310,000 barrels per day, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Fire Started Near Diesel Processing Unit
The fire began on a gas line connected to the refinery’s diesel hydrotreater, according to people familiar with the incident. The problem forced operators to shut down the entire refinery, including its boilers.
The blaze was extinguished in less than an hour after several explosions were reported and workers were evacuated. No injuries had been reported as of the latest update.
State oil company PDVSA had not immediately issued a public explanation of the incident.
Major Part of Venezuela’s Refining System
Cardón is part of the Paraguaná Refining Center, Venezuela’s largest refining complex, which has a combined capacity of about 955,000 barrels per day.
The refinery has already faced operational problems in recent weeks. Output from one crude distillation unit and its fluid catalytic cracker was halted last month because of insufficient feedstock.
Reuters noted that fires, power interruptions and other outages have repeatedly affected PDVSA facilities and can disrupt domestic supplies of gasoline and diesel.
Fire Comes as Global Oil Supplies Remain Tight
The shutdown comes at a particularly sensitive time for global energy markets.
Oil industry executives warned Tuesday that accessible global oil inventories have been heavily depleted after months of supply disruptions, making markets more vulnerable to additional refinery or production outages.
Brent crude settled Tuesday at about $100.58 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was around $89.44, as traders continued to weigh supply risks and disruptions across major producing regions.
It was not immediately clear how long the Cardón refinery would remain offline or how much the shutdown could affect Venezuela’s fuel supply.
Sources: Reuters, PDVSA
By NJ RADAR Team