(Energy Analytics Institute, Pietro D. Pitts, 27.Mar.2018) – Venezuela’s PDVSA owns six domestic refineries with a combined processing capacity of 1,303 thousand barrels per day (Mb/d), according to data from the state oil entity.
A quick summary of the refineries follows:
Refinery ————- Capacity (Mb/d) —- % of Total
Amuay ————— 645 ——————- 49.5%
Cardon ————– 310 ——————– 23.8%
Puerto La Cruz —- 187 ——————- 14.3%
El Palito ————- 140 ——————- 10.7%
Bajo Grande ——- 16 ——————— 1.3%
San Roque ——— 5 ———————– 0.4%
TOTAL ————— 1,303 —————- 100.0%
Venezuela’s refining sector has been hampered by a lack of capital investments, maintenance, feedstock, and a continued exodus of quality domestic and international workers, all of which have combined to boost accidents and downtime while bringing down utilization rates.
Today, the combined utilization rate for the six refineries is nowhere near the levels seen during better times, and PDVSA is increasingly forced to import some petroleum-derivatives from abroad.
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