Pdvsa: Amuay refinery will be back on track by December

Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum and Mining Rafael Ramírez admitted that the atmospheric distillation unit of refinery Amuay, northwest Venezuela, suffered damages upon the explosion of the refinery in August and stated that operations will be back to normal following the respective repair works.

Ramírez told Reuters that "problems in one of the furnaces of distillation unit number five were reported; they are the result of the explosion. The unit did not pass the checkup; damages were detected." Ramírez added that spare parts for the respective repair works have been bought abroad and might arrive in the country in December. The unit's capacity is 180,000 barrels per day (bpd).

After the arrival of the spare parts, "it will take three weeks, we believe, for the unit to start operating at its capacity before the blast, that is, 500,000 bpd," the minister said.

On Wednesday, Ramírez remarked that Amuay was processing "over 400,000 bpd." However, the refinery has been working half of its full capacity since the explosion on August 25.

Translated by Jhean Cabrera