By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Sept. 24 -- CITGO Petroleum Corp. said Monday a fire has damaged the Unicracker unit at its 320,000 b/d Lake Charles, La., refinery.
The unit caught fire about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 21 and was extinguished the next day at 3:00 p.m. All of the other units at the refinery that were not affected by the fire continued to operate at reduced rates.
The Unicracker made jet fuel. CITGO said it was having no difficulty meeting demand, which has been reduced by lowered airline traffic.
The company was investigating the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage. Three persons received minor injuries, were treated at local hospitals, and were released.
Oswaldo Contreras, CITGO president and CEO, said, "We will conduct a full investigation into the cause of the fire and take whatever steps are necessary to prevent this from happening again. We are committed to making the necessary repairs to bring the refinery back up to full production as quickly as we possibly can. In the meantime, we expect to meet all of our contractual obligations."
CITGO, based in Tulsa, Okla., is owned by PDV America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela SA.