Dewaxing unit at PDVSA refinery down after fire

A refinery in Cardon, Venezuela, owned by state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) that produces 310,000 barrels per day (bpd), experienced a fire. The refinery is part of the Paraguana Refining Complex in northwest Venezuela.
Initial reports said the fire damaged the refinery’s dewaxing unit. The fire was caused by an oil leak from a pump seal on April 17, oil workers’ union official Ivan Freites said. The dewaxing unit processes 4,300 bpd.
“The unit is paralyzed and forms part of the lubricant plant that was recently shut down for a year for maintenance not performed in the previous nine years,” Freites said.
The union official said about 60% of the unit had been damaged. “It will practically have to be built again,” he said. “The losses are great, especially factoring in what was spent on maintenance.” He said no one was injured in the fire.
These details were contradicted the next day, April 18, by PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez, who said the fire caused no real problems.
“We are going to start the lubricant plant up soon; what happened there was a small fire that didn’t cause any damage,” Ramirez, who is also oil minister, said during a press conference. “Before you start up a plant, these things happen.”
Ramirez said Cardon and the 645,000 bpd Amuay refinery, which form part of the Paraguana Refining Complex, are both operating normally, although he did not specify their processing rates.
PDVSA has seen a series of problems with its refineries in recent years, including an explosion at Amuay in August that killed 41 people.
(April 18, 2013)