April 29, 2005
PDVSA to invest US$1.27bn in El Palito upgrade

(BNamericas.com) - "Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA plans to invest US$1.27bn in its 2005-2010 plan to upgrade its El Palito refinery in Carabobo state, the company said in a statement.

The aim of the program is to increase the production of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), improve the efficiency of the refinery and ensure its competitiveness in international markets, refinery manager Roberto Capriles said in the statement.

El Palito is one of PDVSA's three refining complexes in the country. The other two are CRP in Falcon state and Puerto La Cruz in Anzoategui state. Both CRP and Puerto La Cruz are also slated to undergo deep conversion retooling at a cost of around US$1bn each. PDVSA is also planning to build three new refineries in Venezuela to boost its worldwide refining capacity 600,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 3.9 million b/d".