Caracas, 25 August (Argus) — The explosion that shut down the alkylation unit at PdV's 195,000 b/d Puerto La Cruz refinery on 17 August was the sixth accident this year at the state-owned company's refineries in Venezuela, including the 320,000 b/d Isla refinery on Curacao that it operates under lease from the government. PdV reported five refinery accidents in 2009.
No one was injured in the explosion. But FUTPV oil union officials say that at least three refinery workers have been killed in accidents this year, and several more have suffered serious burns or other injuries. PdV declined to comment.
Senior PdV managers in Caracas say equipment failures and other accidents happen occasionally at all oil refineries. But lower-level managers and workers at the refineries say accidents this year at PdV's Puerto La Cruz, El Palito, Cardon and Amuay refineries are mainly because of poor maintenance, breakdowns of over-stressed equipment and machinery, and human error due to inexperience.
PdV said its refineries are all operating normally. But the company's annual report for 2009 said its five main refineries operated at 71pc of their total processing capacity last year. The report said operations were affected by a combination of maintenance cutbacks, personnel deficiencies and management failures. Operational refinery processing capacity has dropped since 2005, forcing PdV to start importing incremental volumes of gasoline and gasoline components.
Further delays
PdV launched a plan in 2004 to upgrade its existing refineries and build three new ones, including a 400,000 b/d facility at San Diego de Cabrutica in Anzoategui state; a 50,000 b/d refinery at El Toreno in Barinas state; and a 200,000 b/d refinery at Caripito in Monagas state. All of these refinery capital expenditure (capex) plans were supposed to be completed by the end of last year. But PdV has struggled to complete a single refinery project on schedule.
PdV relaunched its refinery capex plans in 2008. But it again suffered operational problems and delays from the outset. The 305,000 b/d Cardon refinery's FCC was shut down in 2008 for an upgrade that ultimately took more than 18 months to complete and cost more than $650mn. And since it restarted in February this year, the FCC at Cardon has suffered two fires. PdV has conducted investigations but has not revealed any results.
The 140,000 b/d El Palito refinery was shut for almost 10 months last year while it underwent programmed maintenance that was originally scheduled to last only three months. El Palito resumed full operations at the start of this year, but has been plagued by recurring problems, particularly those involving its 60,000 b/d FCC.
PdV shut down the 635,000 b/d Amuay refinery's 64,000 b/d flexicoker on 7 April this year for planned major maintenance that was more than a year overdue. PdV said the flexicoker would be operational again within 90 days, but it only came back on line on 19 August.
The company was also forced to shut down the Isla refinery on 1 March after a fire in the power supply system owned by Curacao Utilities Operating Company (CUOC) caused an outage. Isla was processing about 240,000 b/d when it was shut down, with most of the products being exported to China, refinery officials say. The refinery is strategically important to PdV, but it is under a Curacao court order issued in May 2008 to make environmental and technology upgrades costing up to $2bn.
Major upgrades
The Isla refinery's lubricants facilities are operational, but the rest of the refinery remains shut down because CUOC has not completed necessary repairs to damaged boilers and other power supply infrastructure. PdV said it does not know when the plant will resume full operations.
Planned upgrades at El Palito and Puerto La Cruz will start in 2011, PdV said, with a combined capex of over $10bn between now and 2015. But the two refineries will be upgraded over the coming two years without interrupting or significantly reducing their core refining operations, PdV said.
The company operates 1.28mn b/d of refining capacity in Venezuela, including the 940,000 b/d Paraguana complex, which includes the Amuay and Cardon refineries. PdV also has significant refining capacity outside Venezuela — in the US (961,400 b/d), the Caribbean (570,000 b/d, including the Isla refinery), and Europe (283,700 b/d).
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