Venezuela’s smallest refinery restarts catalytic cracker, workers say

Installations at the El Palito refinery of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, with facilities of the national electricity company Corpoelec in the background, after the National Assembly approved a major reform of the country's main oil law, in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. (Reuters/File)

• The refinery has been reactivating ‌its operational ‌units in ​recent ‌days, ⁠following the twin earthquakes that struck late last month

VALENCIA, Venezuela: Venezuela’s smallest refinery, the 146,000-barrel-per-day El Palito in the country’s central region, has restarted its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC), key for producing motor fuel, four workers said on Monday.
The refinery has been reactivating ‌its operational ‌units slowly in ​recent ‌days, ⁠following twin ​earthquakes ⁠in late June that had left the facility without power.
“The FCC is working and we are trying to boost (output),” one of the workers said, adding that the ⁠unit required several attempts to ‌have it ‌in service, and is ​now processing some 35,000 ‌bpd.
The country’s oil ministry said ‌on the weekend fuel supply was guaranteed in all regions, especially in zones affected by the quakes including coastal ‌La Guaira state. The ministry did not elaborate on volumes, ⁠but ⁠lines for gasoline in front of stations have remained short, signaling enough distribution.
The quakes did not cause large damages to the OPEC country’s vast energy infrastructure, which has allowed uninterrupted oil production and exports, but power and water supply remain the most affected ​public services.