Catalytic cracker, distillation units at Venezuela's Amuay refinery resume operations
A catalytic cracker and two distillation units at Venezuela's Amuay refinery, the country's largest, have resumed operations following a power interruption earlier this month.
According to sources, a blackout on Sept. 12 left the refinery's catalytic cracker, which produces finished fuels, offline and halted operations of the distillation units.
Power outages frequently affect Venezuelan refineries due to a chronic lack of investment, suspending operations and leading to fuel shortages, and restarting processing units typically takes several days.
Amuay has a capacity to process 645,000 bpd of oil, but it does not export any of its products. Together with the Cardon refinery, it forms state oil firm PVDSA's largest complex with a capacity of 955,000 bpd.
Last month, the South American nation's oil exports reached a four-year high, despite the United States not renewing a license easing sanctions it ordered on the country's oil exports since 2019 over political freedoms.
Individual licenses have however been issued allowing joint ventures between PDVSA with U.S. oil firm Chevron and Spain's Repsol to keep shipping Venezuelan oil abroad.
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