El Palito refinery

El Palito refinery is a hydrocarbon refining complex located in the municipality of Puerto Cabello, near the town of El Palito in the state of Carabobo, Venezuela. Controlled by the state-owned oil company PDVSA, it has a refining capacity of 140,000 barrels per day, making it the fourth largest refinery in the country after the Paraguaná (940,000 barrels), Puerto La Cruz refinery (200,000 barrels), and José (180,000 barrels) refineries.

History

Construction of the complex began in 1954. Refining operations commenced on June 23, 1960, with an initial refining capacity of 55,000 barrels per day.

A lightning strike caused a fire at the refinery in September 2012.[1]

Production reached 140,000 barrels per day in 2013. The refinery's capacity was expected to reach 280,000 barrels per day in 2017.[2]

In July 2020 an oil spill occurred at the refinery, estimated to have resulted in 20 thousand oil barrels polluting the Triste Gulf.[3]

In May 2022, a €110 million contract was signed for the refurbishment of El Palito with an Iranian state-owned company, the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, NIORDC.[4]

Fuel production reached El Palito's maximum capacity of 140,000 b/d in June 2023.[5]

In June 2023, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company, NIOEC, a subsidiary of NIORDC, estimated that the El Palito refurbishment was 70% complete.[6]

In late December 2023 an oil spill on the coast of the Carabobo state from the refinery occurred,[7] affecting the beach of Puerto Cabello.[8]

In July 2024, catalysts imported from Iran were being used in the El Palito cracking unit, according to the CEO of NIORDC.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Venezuela: Fire at PDVSA El Palito refinery extinguished". Petroleum World. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  2. ^ "PDVSA signed contract with international consortium TFY & V for El Palito refinery expansion". www.euro-petrole.com. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  3. ^ "Derrame de petróleo en Venezuela: "El mundo está preocupado por el de isla Mauricio pero en Venezuela hay uno el doble de grande"" [Oil spill in Venezuela: "The world is worried about the one in Mauritius, but there's one in Venezuela twice as big."]. BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 14 August 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  4. ^ "Iran to overhaul Venezuela's El Palito refinery: Official". Mehr News Agency. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Venezuela's PDVSA resumes operations at El Palito refinery unit, sources say". Reuters. 11 June 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  6. ^ "El Palito Reconstruction 70% Done" (PDF). files.iranpetroleum.ir. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Venezuela oil giant says 80 percent of oil spill cleaned up". phys.org. 29 December 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  8. ^ Lozano, Daniel (27 December 2023). "El chavismo silencia un derrame petrolero en una de sus mayores refinerías" [Chavismo silences an oil spill at one of its largest refineries]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Iran launches petchem research, technology center in Makran coast". Tehran Times. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2026.

10°28′52″N 68°07′23″W / 10.481°N 68.123°W / 10.481; -68.123

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