Venezuela's Cardon refinery halted after fire, no injuries reported

Venezuela ​halted the Cardon refinery, its second-largest ‌with ​a capacity of 310,000 barrels per day, after a fire sparked by a ruptured natural gas line, ‌state-run oil company PDVSA said late on Tuesday while it evaluates the situation. Eight sources with knowledge of the matter earlier confirmed to Reuters that a fire had broken out ‌at the facility, part of PDVSA's 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center, Venezuela's largest complex.

Two of ‌the sources said the fire started at a gas line to the refinery's diesel hydrotreater, forcing the shutdown of the entire facility, including boilers. In its evening statement, PDVSA said it quickly ⁠contained the ​blaze caused by ⁠a rupture at about 3:25 p.m. in the natural gas line feeding the boilers. There were ⁠no injuries or major damage, it added, and the incident is being investigated.

Fires, power interruptions ​and outages are common at the company's facilities, and can affect supply ⁠of fuel essential to the domestic market, such as gasoline and diesel. Huge columns of flames and ⁠smoke ​billowed from the refinery in videos posted on social media. Later photographs from neighbors showed firefighters in the facility and the flames put out.

Reuters could not ⁠immediately verify the video content, but sources reported seeing the smoke and flames. Output was ⁠halted last month ⁠from one of Cardon's crude distillation units and its fluid catalytic cracker because of insufficient feedstock.