By an OGJ Online Correspondent
CARACAS, Mar. 13�Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) Tuesday said a Japanese-Venezuelan consortium signed a $300 million engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the expansion of the Puerto La Cruz refinery.
The 200,000 b/d refinery has been processing 150,000 b/d.
The expansion, also known as the VALCOR project, is scheduled to begin midyear and completion is expected by the third quarter 2003.
The consortium includes JGC Corp. and Chiyoda Corp. of Japan, and Venezuela�s private engineering companies VEPICA and Jantesa. The consortium has received financial support from Japan�s Marubeni Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp.
The upgrade will include the installation of units to produce 45,000 b/d of unleaded gasoline for the domestic market and 30,000 b/d of low-sulfur diesel for export to Latin American and Caribbean markets.
Last September, PDVSA signed a $500 million agreement with a group of Japanese financing institutions led by the Japan Bank for International Corp. to guarantee funding for the entire VALCOR project.
