Venezuela's Amuay refinery back to normal in April

Both Asdrúbal Chávez, vice-president of the Refining and Commercialization Office of Venezuelan state-run oil company Pdvsa, and Jesús Luongo, general manager at Paraguaná Refining Complex (CRP), have asserted that Venezuelan refinery Amuay, northwest Venezuela, would achieve its optimum operation level –the same it had prior to the explosion taking place in August 2012- by April after the completion of repair works in atmospheric distillation unit number five. The unit can process up to 185,000 oil barrels, but has been out of service since the blast.

Referring to Amuay's flexi-coke unit, Luongo stated that commissioning is scheduled for next March 15, yet he stressed that "it is very complicated" and may take between 7-10 days to boost the unit's capacity to 64,000 bpd.

The CRP's general manager also stated that Pdvsa's refining system "is processing more than one million barrels per day. This allows us to satisfy fuel domestic market."

As for investments in maintenance, Asdrúbal Chávez pointed out that the refining circuit was given USD 1.2 billion in 2012. Some USD 604 million was intended to be used to perform regular maintenance "on a daily basis," and USD 653 million was to be used for more complex maintenance operations, such as repair of tanks and boilers.

With reference to the compensations for the damages in Amuay, Luongo explained that the duly process to receive compensation from insurance and reinsurance companies continues.  

Translated by Jhean Cabrera