Venezuela gasoline shortage eases as units restart

Unusually long lines at Venezuela's retail fuel stations dwindled in recent days as state oil company PdV said the restart of units at two of its refineries have boosted gasoline supply.

The fluid catalytic crackers at the Cardon and Amuay refineries are working after major repairs and a lengthy restart process, PdV told workers on 27 July in an internal communication seen by Argus.

Cardon and Amuay in Falcon state are part of Paraguana refining center (CRP), together with the Bajo Grande refinery in neighboring Zulia state. CRP has 971,000 b/d of Venezuela's nameplate 1.3mn b/d nameplate capacity but the plants are beset by maintenance problems, power outages, explosions and accidents. US sanctions started under former president Donald Trump are also taking a toll, PdV maintains.

Complaints about gasoline and diesel shortages and quality became common in Venezuela particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, but began to build earlier this year after a late 2022 explosion at the CRP.

PdV did not specify increased production amounts but said both units will now produce more gasoline and LPG.

The CRP has never fully recovered from a 2012 explosion at Amuay that killed dozens of workers and damaged several key processing units. PdV has indicated there has been some improvement in recent months, as the complex resumed exports of some specialty products, including asphalt to Brazil.

The 146,000 b/d nameplate capacity El Palito refinery also resumed about 20,000 b/d of gasoline and diesel production in June, PdV said earlier.

By Carlos Camacho