By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 7 -- Venezuela's state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) announced plans to build three refineries that would boost its worldwide refining capacity by 600,000 b/d to 3.9 million b/d by 2010, according to media reports.
PDVSA said the refineries will be near the Orinoco heavy oil belt at Caripito, Barinas, and Cabruta. It also announced plans to upgrade its El Palito and Puerto La Cruz refineries, said a report in Business News Americas.
The new refineries are scheduled to start operations in 2010, said Energy and Oil Minister and PDVSA Pres. Rafael Ramírez. He said the company was "still conceptualizing" the cost, BNA reported.
PDVSA officials previously have estimated the cost of special equipment required for processing Venezuela's heavy, sour crude oil at about $3 billion.
PDVSA also will invest $1.1 billion in its 126,900-b/d El Palito refinery and $1.2 billion at the 195,000-b/d Puerto La Cruz refinery to improve efficiency and safety and increase output, Ramírez told potential oil and gas investors in Los Taques, Falcón state.
PDVSA currently owns 22 refineries, three in Venezuela. Its wholly owned subsidiary Citgo produces 1.12 million b/d in the US and Puerto Rico—about a third of PDVSA's total refining capacity. PDVSA also owns nine refineries in Europe where it can refine 852,000 b/d.
Venezuela President Hugo Chávez recently has said that PDVSA would sell some of its refineries in the US or Europe to help finance domestic projects (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2005).