Has anyone heard any updates on that big honkin' cat cracker that went down in Venezuela recently. I recall hearing at the time that it may be down for up to 35 days. To refresh your memories, this is the one described as the largest cracker in the Western hemisphere.

News on this has been conspicuous by its absence. I'm wondering if the output of this plant (or LACK OF) has been figured into the projected gasoline shortfalls this Spring and Summer.

TIA,

Jimmy

-- Jimmy Splinters (inthe@dark.com), February 17, 2000

Answers

Jimmy, I have also been wondering about the status of Venz's two refineries that we draw from.

As I recall, 40% of our imported gasoline comes from Venz, but since we refine almost all of our gasoline, the loss of the Venz was not supposed to be very significant.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), February 17, 2000.

I "overheard" on a non-authorititave thread that it was successfully restarted a few weeks ago, of course without fanfare. You might ask around on Downstreamer's forum

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 17, 2000.

Jimmy Splinters,

Clearly you're referring to the Amuay cracker in Venezuela (mentioned at the time it went down as "one of the two largest in the Western Hemisphere"--the other was I think in the Virgin Islands, no?) I am quite sure I saw "official" notices posted elsewhere a couple weeks ago (Downstreamventure's forum, most likely) that the Amuay facility was coming back on-line. You should check there.

Not my speciality, but thought I'd offer my two cents. --Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 17, 2000.

Up and Running

Fair Use for Educational and research Purposes

/2 9:16 Venezuela's PDVSA Restarts Refining Unit, Deliveries Resume By Joshua Schneyer

Caracas, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the world's No. 3 oil company and one of the leading oil refiners, said it restarted a catalytic cracker at its Amuay refinery, allowing the company to resume deliveries of its own products to clients.

The 108,000-barrel-a-day cracker, a processing unit that produces high-octane gasoline and other products mostly for export to the U.S., came back on line ahead of schedule yesterday, after PDVSA said Jan. 18 a technical snag would keep it idled for 24 to 30 days.

The cracker, part of PDVSA's 940,000-barrel-a-day refining complex in the northern Paraguana refinery, will gradually work back to its full capacity, a spokesman said. By resuming operations, PDVSA will be able to halt purchases of third-party gasoline in order to fulfill delivery obligations.

The Paraguana complex is among the world's biggest. The unexpected shutdown of the unit on Jan. 16 led PDVSA to invoke force majeure clauses, and the company informed clients it would be unable to fulfill some delivery contracts. The shutdown also helped boost the price of gasoline and other products.

See also: Refinery Outages

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 17, 2000.

There are no crackers who are cats, man.

-- (BigLeon@da.hood), February 17, 2000.