(Energy Analytics Institute, 11.Sep.2020) — Venezuela captured an alleged American spy near its Amuay refinery located in Falcón state.
“We have captured an American in Falcón, spying on the Amuay and Cardón refineries,” state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) announced 11 September 2020 in an official statement, citing Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.
“There is evidence [and] this spy is a marine who was serving at CIA bases in Iraq,” Maduro denounced while noting that Venezuelan military officials had also seized sophisticated weapons and large sums of money, without providing details.
PDVSA’s domestic refineries – Amuay, Cardón, Bajo Grande, Puerto la Cruz, El Palito and San Roque – have a combined installed processing capacity of 1,303,000 barrels per day.
A quick summary of the refineries follows:
Refinery ————- Capacity (Mb/d) —- % of Total Capacity
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, and feedstock as well as a continued exodus of qualified and experienced domestic and international workers, all of which have combined to boost refinery accidents and downtime while bringing down utilization rates.
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By Piero Stewart. © Energy Analytics Institute (EAI). All Rights Reserved.
