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Posted on 12/14/2007 3:51:14 PM PST by Freedumb
Years of shoddy maintenance and mounting shortages of spare parts have left Venezuela's second-largest oil refinery barely capable of functioning, three sources at the refinery told Reuters.
State oil company PDVSA's 300,000 barrels per day Cardon refinery is currently operating at minimal rates because four of its six steam boilers are out of service, leaving the facility without enough steam to keep units functioning, the three sources said.
Cardon normally uses the steam from five boilers and holds the sixth in reserve, the sources said.
"They don't have the equipment. There are no spare parts, and they don't have them because they are not experienced enough to get them," said one of the refinery sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
PDVSA officials did not return calls seeking comment on operations at Cardon.
Venezuela, once one of United States' main suppliers of gasoline, has suffered numerous refinery problems in recent years that have slashed exports and forced it to periodically import gasoline blending components.
12 MAJOR OUTAGES
This year alone there have been 12 major outages, almost half of which have been blamed on power failures. At least nine workers have been hurt in refinery accidents in 2007.
PDVSA has struggled with operational problems at its refineries since hundreds of refinery workers and engineers were fired after they joined an anti-government strike meant to force President Hugo Chavez from power in December 2002.
Chavez purged the company of his political opponents in 2003 and turned it into the financial engine of a social development campaign that has built up his political support.
The government's critics say shortages of skilled staff have hampered investment in the oil industry, leading to falling oil output and increasing unplanned shutdowns.
Most of Cardon's units are currently in a standby mode, after a power surge this month shut the refinery and led to massive emergency flaring of partially refined oil.
A recent attempt to restart the gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit with insufficient steam pressure failed and damaged the unit's compressor, the sources said.
"This is a product of a lack of investment in maintenance," said a second refinery source.
The refinery sources said PDVSA was resorting to installing portable boilers in an effort to restart the refinery as the facility's staff have not been able to acquire the replacement parts to repair the principal boilers.
Bush’s fault!
Class enemies are sabotaging the refineries.
Conoco would be able to provide assistance.
Hey Hugo, since you sent in your Red Shirt Brigades to fix the election, how about letting them fix the refinery?
A preview of HillaryCare in the oil sector...
“This is a product of a lack of investment in maintenance,”
Actually, the refineries and the oil industry in general have been nationalized since the seventies.
What is new is, first, Chavez is no doubt even worse than his predecessors about using oil company budgets to fund other budget priorities, and second, he fired some 18,000 engineers and techs after they led a massive protest against him a few years back. You can’t get rid of 18,000 people and not pay a price in the loss of know-how.
What PDVSA is going through now is no surprise at all. They can’t meet their production quotas, and they can’t keep their plants on line. Unless they get rid of him, or regain the relative autonomy they had before, its only going to get worse.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Engineers tend to be conservatives and would have little use for a leftist like Chavez.
Bill
Chavez and his cronies will live high off the hog until the masses begin to starve....Hugo is nothing but a pig actor in Orwell's Animal Farm.
“The Shockbrigade of Chavez refinery workers call upon their allies and fellow anti-imerialists, Sean Penn and Duval Patrick to send over a cadre of committed socialist workers to fight the Bushchimpyhitler sabotage attempts and show all progressive elements that Comrade Hugo will not be denied his great victory over the evil capitalist machinations of cowardly running dog western fascism!”
How long can it be, before the vandalism, thefts of company property, and acts of sabotage start? How much longer after that, till the workers start striking?
“OK, who’s going to fix this equipment?”
“AH doe know. Eatsnot MAH yob!”
> “Engineers tend to be conservatives and would have little use for a leftist like Chavez.”
For the most part, true. You cannot be a good engineer unless you realize that every action has consequences. You have to be able to foresee those consequences and make sure what you want is worth it. Liberals never bother with that.
The words “unintended consequences” bother me. Almost all of the consequences that are talked about when this term is used were foreseeable. They were just ignored.
True.
Butt her followers, given their position, will never see it.
[”They don’t have the equipment. There are no spare parts, and they don’t have them because they are not experienced enough to get them,” said one of the refinery sources,]
Like no one saw this coming.
.....unintended consequences......
the phrase is a euphamism for break down maintenance.
The Venezuela oil fields are in the water. Right there some special expertize would be required. Chavez just sent 100 years of experience packing.
The one thing that can be be said of socialism is that it is very predictable.
Exactly, Comrade. The Wreckers have been deployed by the enemies of the people. We must increase our vigilance and ruthlessly exterminate the tools of the entrenched bourgeoisie.
“Class enemies are sabotaging the refineries.”
Those damn Kulaks! The wreckers are at it again!
Quick, to the black marias to arrest the kulaks
and drag them before the Troikas.
That’s pretty good Stalinist rhetoric. It rings true. My compliments!
socialism is such a sweet thing huh *-? lol
All I see is Asses!
Wyatt's Torch.
out of milk, out of gas......rofl....love it!!!!!!
That’s a orgy waiting to happen.
And everyone here thought those 100,000 AK-47’s he was buying were just for show.
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