Venezuela's main refineries operating at record lows: sources, data

Three of Venezuela's four refineries are working at record lows due to equipment malfunctioning and lack of crude and spare parts, according to PDVSA internal reports seen by Reuters on Wednesday and workers from the facilities. The Paraguana Refining Center, which includes Venezuela's Cardon and Amuay refineries, was processing 409,000 barrels per day (bpd) as of Monday, or 43 percent of its installed capacity of 955,000 bpd, according to the data. Venezuela's third largest refinery, the 187,000-barrel-per-day Puerto la Cruz, is operating at minimum levels due to problems at two of its three distillation units, said union leader Jose Bodas and a worker who asked not to be identified. More…