PDVSA plans late-July restart for Amuay refinery’s FCCU

July 20, 2015
Repairs remain under way on the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) 645,000-b/d Amuay refinery in northwestern Venezuela’s Falcon state following an unplanned shutdown of the unit in early July.

Repairs remain under way on the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) 645,000-b/d Amuay refinery in northwestern Venezuela’s Falcon state following an unplanned shutdown of the unit in early July.

Corrective maintenance at the FCCU is progressing according to plan and is due to reach mechanical completion on or about July 28, PDVSA said.

Once repairs are completed, PDVSA plans to begin the unit’s restart process immediately.

The FCCU was shuttered earlier this month following unidentified problems with its regenerator and associated minor equipment, according to a July 1 release from the state-owned company.

Remaining processing units at the Amuay refinery as well as at the nearby 310,000-b/d Cardon refinery—which together comprise PDVSA’s 955,000-b/d Paraguana Refining Center (CRP)—have continued to operate normally during the unplanned maintenance event, PDVSA said.

With no interruptions to operations at the Cardon refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking plant, PDVSA said it maintains sufficient fuel inventories to meet both its domestic and international supply commitments.

The company did not disclose a timeframe for when CRP might return to its full FCCU processing capacity of 166,500 b/d.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].