Venezuela Crude Processing Capacity Falls to 31% as Issues Persist

Venezuela’s refineries are operating at just 31% of capacity as outages and maintenance issues continue to limit PDVSA’s fuel production.

(Reuters) — Venezuela's refining network is processing some 399,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, or 31% of its 1.29 million-bpd installed capacity, below the 35% of capacity it reached in February as state-run company PDVSA struggles to keep units in service after restarting them, workers said this week.

The South American country has increased oil output and exports since it agreed to a flagship supply pact with the U.S. government in January, but limited power service, outages and need for major repairs and maintenance are creating obstacles to recovering refining operations.

In recent weeks, PDVSA has focused efforts on restarting fuel-making units at several refineries, but some fluid catalytic crackers have been unable to operate continuously, the workers said.

At the nation's largest complex, the 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center, four crude distillation units were operational, processing some 237,000 bpd of oil this week, with only one fluid catalytic cracker in service, one of the sources said.

At the 187,000-bpd Puerto la Cruz refinery, two crude distillation units were processing 82,000 bpd, while at the country's smallest refinery, the 146,000-bpd El Palito, one crude unit was active with some 80,000 bpd and a fluid catalytic cracker was also in service, workers from those facilities said.

Venezuela, which sells fuel domestically in a combination of domestic and foreign currency, has had episodes of severe fuel scarcity in the past, forcing drivers to line up for days in front of gas stations.

Under U.S. authorizations, PDVSA is this year importing naphtha it has used for complementing its domestic fuel output, according to ship tracking data.