Cardón refinery in Venezuela after a fire caused by a natural gas line rupture at the Paraguaná Refining Center

A gas line rupture sparked the fire, prompting an emergency shutdown of the refinery’s plants. No injuries or major damage were reported.


Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA said Tuesday it had contained a fire at the Cardón refinery in Falcón state after a natural gas line supplying fuel to the facility’s boilers ruptured.

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The fire was reported at 3:25 p.m. local time at the Paraguaná Refining Center, one of Venezuela’s main hydrocarbon-processing complexes. PDVSA said its emergency response personnel brought the blaze under control quickly.

No workers were injured, no third parties were affected and no major damage was reported, the company said.

As a precaution, the Cardón plants were placed under an emergency shutdown. The facilities will remain under evaluation while PDVSA determines the conditions needed for a safe restart, the company said.

The company has formed an investigation committee to determine the cause of the gas line rupture and the resulting fire. PDVSA did not provide a timetable for the investigation or say when operations at the plants could resume.

Cardón is part of the Paraguaná Refining Center, a network of processing facilities on the Paraguaná Peninsula that is a strategic component of Venezuela’s energy industry.

PDVSA said the National Refining System has sufficient fuel inventories to maintain supplies to the population despite the incident at the Cardón refinery.


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