TWO of Venezuela’s refineries have been halted after a blackout on Sunday morning.
Reuters have quoted two unnamed oil industry experts who said the refineries Amuay and Cardon have been halted.
Together the twin refineries form the 955,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Paraguana Refining Center, which has been operating well below capacity for years because of chronic operational problems that have been aggravated by Venezuela’s economic crisis.
“Blackout in both refineries,” one employee who works in the complex wrote in a text message. “It’s going to be difficult to get the system back up,” Reuters reported
State oil company PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Social media users in the area reported that power was out in nearby communities that rely on refinery generators for electricity.
Outages are not uncommon.
Cardon, with a capacity of 310,000 bpd, halted operations in May after damage at some of its units.
The 645,000 bpd Amuay refinery was shuttered because of a technical failure in November, according to Reuters.
