Paraguan Refinery Complex

Paraguan Refinery Complex

Paraguan Refinery Complex

Amuay Refinery seen from Las Piedras

Location of Paraguan Refinery Complex Country State City Coordinates Venezuela Falcn} Punto Fijo, Punta Cardn and Maracaibo 114448N 701142W [1]

Coordinates: 114448N 701142W [1]

Refinery details Operator Owner(s) Petrleos de Venezuela Petrleos de Venezuela

Commissioned 1949 Capacity Refining units 940,000 bbl/d (149,000m3/d) Amuay Refinery, Cardn Refinery and Bajo Grande Refinery

The Paraguan Refinery Complex (Spanish: Centro de Refinacin de Paraguan) is a crude oil refinery complex in Venezuela. It is considered the world's second largest refinery complex, just after Jamnagar Refinery in India. The Paraguan Refinery Complex was created by the fusion of Amuay Refinery, Bajo Grande Refinery and Cardn Refinery.[2] As of 2012, it refines 955 thousand barrels per day (151,800m3/d).[3] The complex is located in the Paraguan Peninsula in Falcn state (Amuay and Cardn refineries) and the western coast of Lake Maracaibo in the Zulia state (Bajo Grande Refinery).[] The complex accounts for 71% of the refining capacity of Venezuela and it belongs to the state-owned company Petrleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).[]

Paraguan Refinery Complex

History
The Cardn Refinery started operations in 1949 with capacity to refine 30 thousand barrels per day (4,800m3/d). It was owned by Royal Dutch Shell. It currently handles 305 thousand barrels per day (48,500m3/d).[] The Amuay Refinery was established by Creole Petroleum in 1950. It started having a capacity of 60 thousand barrels per day (9,500m3/d) and nowadays it can refine 645 thousand barrels per day (102,500m3/d).[3] The Bajo Grande Refinery, built in 1956 by Richmond (now Chevron), has the capacity to refine 16 thousand barrels per day (2,500m3/d).[] In 1997, a joint venture of BOC Gases and Foster Wheeler built a 50 million cubic feet per day (1.4106m3/d) hydrogen production facility next to the Amuay refinery. This hydrogen facility was the largest in South America.[]

Incidents
Since president Chvez fired 18,000 PDVSA employees and replaced them with party loyalists, PDVSA has suffered from a series of safety and productivity problems.[4][5] In 2003, two workers were injured in an explosion at an electrical substation at the Amuay refinery. In 2005, six accidents happened, including an explosion in November 2005, which killed five workers and injured 20. In 2006, five accidents happened which killed three and injured five workers.[] In the same year, the 54,000-barrel-per-day (8,600m3/d) catalytic reformer unit was temporarily shut down due to a fire in a furnace 'blew out'.[] In March 2011, a fire that broke out at the hydrodesulphurization unit 4 (HD4) of Amuay refinery; however, the fire was out shortly and the refinery continued operating.[] In 2012, a distillation unit of the Amuay refinery was briefly stopped due to fire.[] In March 2012, the Cardn refinery was shut for 8 hours due to air supply fault.[]

2012 explosion
On 25 August 2012 at 01:11 (05:41 GMT), an explosion caused by the ignition of a leaking gas at the Amuay refinery killed 48people, primarily National Guard troops stationed at the plant, and injured 151others.[] A 10-year-old boy was among the dead.[][] Three days of national mourning was declared by President Hugo Chvez.[] He also ordered a probe into the cause of the fire and told his cabinet by telephone that "[this] affects us all, the great Venezuelan family, civilian and military. It's very sad, very painful."[]

Oil holder in fire after the 2012 Amuay refinery explosion.

According to PDVSA Vice-President Eulogio Del Pino a leak of propane and butane gas was detected an hour before the blast. However, the contingency plan was not implemented.[] No operating units were reported damaged by the blast but three storage tanks were burning.[] All three burning storage tanks were extinguished by 28 August 2012.[] In addition to the refinery, more than 1,600homes were damaged by the shockwave.[] President Chvez said he was creating a US$23million fund for clean-up operations and a replacement of destroyed homes.[] He said that "60new homes were ready for affected families to move into, 60more would be finished soon, and a further 137houses would be handed over next month."[] He also rejected claims that PDVSA might be responsible for the disaster.[] According to president Chvez, the plan was to restart the facility by 31 August.[][] Energy Minister Rafael Ramrez said that PDVSA had ten days' production stockpiled and production at other facilities could be increased, and there would be no "major effects" on oil exports.[] Pricing of gasoline futures in the United States increased by 3.15% due to the incident and threat of Hurricane Isaac.[] Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski criticized PDVSA management for their poor safety record and forwarded lack of maintenance as a cause of the accident. President Chvez, who claimed that it was too

Paraguan Refinery Complex early to identify the cause, as well as minister Ramrez, said that Mr. Capriles "doesn't know what he's talking about".[] However, the Secretary-General of the United Federation of Oil Workers Ivn Freites blamed the government for a "lack of maintenance and investment" in the oil industry and stated these as the main causes of the incident.[6] He recalled that the union has complained since 2011 about problems with damaged equipment, lack of spare parts and other unsafe conditions.[]

Locations
Name Amuay Refinery Cardn Refinery Coordinates 114427N 701233W 113802N 701315W [7] [8]

Bajo Grande Refinery 103016N 713821W [9]

References
[1] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Paraguan%C3%A1_Refinery_Complex& params=11_44_48_N_70_11_42_W_type:landmark [7] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Paraguan%C3%A1_Refinery_Complex& params=11_44_27_N_70_12_33_W_type:landmark& title=Amuay+ Refinery [8] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Paraguan%C3%A1_Refinery_Complex& params=11_38_02_N_70_13_15_W_type:landmark& title=Card%C3%B3n+ Refinery [9] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Paraguan%C3%A1_Refinery_Complex& params=10_30_16_N_71_38_21_W_type:landmark& title=Bajo+ Grande+ Refinery

External links
PDVSA - Petrleos de Venezuela (http://www.pdvsa.com/)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Paraguan Refinery Complex Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=541437643 Contributors: 1exec1, AndyTheGrump, ArwinJ, Beagel, Bfigura, Bobrayner, BorgQueen, Cheng, CommonsDelinker, Deon, Dr. Blofeld, Egeymi, Emiliofhg, Fahrizal Dillah, Gdarin, HeyThereYall, Hmains, Jhertel, Kaizo ve, Kennvido, Khazar2, Lihaas, Magioladitis, Megadoom7, Mogism, Nelven, Ottawahitech, Piledhigheranddeeper, Plastikspork, Rich Farmbrough, Stepheng3, Stormchaser89, Truthanado, Ucucha, W-23, WhisperToMe, Wnt, 28 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:WIKIPEDIA PARROQUIA NORTE 031.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WIKIPEDIA_PARROQUIA_NORTE_031.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Luis Petit file:Venezuela location map.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Venezuela_location_map.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: ArwinJ, NordNordWest, Shadowxfox File:Tanque de refinera Amuay en llamas.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tanque_de_refinera_Amuay_en_llamas.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:Joser86h

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/