Day: October 7, 2026

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, Report informs via Reuters.

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. (GMT-4) 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.

Output was halted last month from one ⁠of ​Cardon’s crude distillation units and its ​fluid catalytic cracker because of insufficient feedstock.