PdV upgrader PetroCedeno resumes operations

Venezuelan state-owned PdV's 180,000 b/d PetroCedeno heavy crude upgrading joint venture with European partners Total and Equinor restarted operations on 18 February.

The outage since 5 February was caused by mechanical problems with a pipeline and a pump that have now been repaired and are having an operational evaluation, a PdV official close to the operations told Argus.

PetroCedeno is one of four PdV-led upgraders at the Jose complex in Anzoategui state. Two others, PetroMonagas with Russia's state-controlled Rosneft and PetroPiar with Chevron, are operating, but PdV's wholly owned Petro San Felix has been out of service since last year.

The operational ups and downs come amid a shortage of naphtha caused by new US oil sanctions that is making it difficult for PdV and its foreign partners to produce extra-heavy crude from the Orinoco oil belt.

Naphtha, all of which came from the US before the sanctions took effect on 28 January, is critical for transporting the 8-10°API Orinoco crude from the oil belt as diluted crude oil (DCO). Some of the DCO is normally exported directly into the market, while the rest is upgraded into synthetic crude or blended with light crude at PdV's Sinovensa joint venture with China's CNPC. The upgraders and Sinovensa strip out the naphtha for reuse at the oil belt, but without fresh imported naphtha supplies, 200,000-300,000 b/d of Venezuela's DCO exports are starting to dry up.

PdV owns a 60pc controlling stake in PetroCedeno, with Total and Equinor holding minority stakes of 30.3pc and 9.3pc respectively. Neither European firm has commented on the upgrader's operations.