Venezuela controls fire at Cardón refinery after gas line rupture

A fire caused by the rupture of a natural gas line forced the shutdown of activities at the Cardón refinery, in the state of Falcón, Venezuela. The incident occurred at 3:25 pm on Tuesday (6) and affected the supply to the boilers of the unit, part of the Paraguaná Refining Center.

According to the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), safety protocols were activated immediately and the flames were controlled by the emergency team. The company reported that there were no injured workers or major material damage, and that the plants were preventively stopped to assess the facilities.

“In accordance with industrial safety standards, the appropriate Investigation Committee was set up, with the objective of determining the causes that led to this event. It is worth noting that the National Refining System has sufficient stocks to guarantee the supply of fuel to the Venezuelan people,” PDVSA said in a statement.

The Cardón refinery is the second largest in the country, with capacity to process 310,000 barrels of oil per day. The Paraguaná complex, of which it is part, has a total capacity of 955 thousand barrels per day.

Deterioration caused by the economic blockade

The interruption of operations at the Cardón refinery reflects the dismantling and wear and tear accumulated by the Venezuelan oil industry over 11 years of unilateral sanctions applied by the United States government. Since the first coercive measures were enacted, the country’s energy infrastructure has faced severe restrictions on the acquisition of spare parts, access to maintenance technologies and the hiring of specialized services.

Official data from the Venezuelan government indicate that the country has been the target of 1,088 sanctions, of which around 950 remain in force. Between 2017 and 2024, the economic blockade generated an estimated loss of US$226 billion in oil revenues not earned by PDVSA alone, in addition to cutting off the country’s access to the international financial system and retaining Venezuelan assets abroad.

Experts and authorities denounce that the impossibility of making continuous investments and the retention of financial resources suffocate the operational capacity of refineries.