Venezuela's Cardon refinery halted after fire, sources say

Venezuela's ​Cardon refinery, the country's second-largest ‌with a ​310,000-barrel-per-day capacity, was halted due to a fire at one of its processing units, eight sources ‌with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Fires, power interruptions and outages are common at facilities operated by state-run oil company PDVSA, and can affect ‌supply of essential fuels for the domestic market, like gasoline and diesel.

The ‌fire started at a gas line that connects the refinery's diesel hydrotreater, forcing the entire facility's shutdown, including boilers, two of the sources said. PDVSA did not respond to ⁠a ​request for comment. ⁠The blaze was extinguished less than an hour later, following some explosions and the evacuation of ⁠personnel, according to the sources and neighbors. No injured workers have been reported.

Cardon ​is part of PDVSA's 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center, the country's largest ⁠complex. Videos posted on social media showed huge columns of flames and smoke billowing from the ⁠refinery. ​Later, photos shared by neighbors showed firefighters in the facility and the flames extinguished. Reuters could not immediately verify the content of the ⁠videos, but other sources reported seeing flames and smoke at the refinery.

Output at ⁠one of ⁠Cardon's crude distillation units and its fluid catalytic cracker was halted last month due to insufficient feedstock.