Lack of investment is the reason for fires in Pdvsa facilities

[naaman fletcher]

In the opinion of José Toro Hardy, a former senior director of state-run holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), the fires that blew up in three Pdvsa facilities in less than one week are not casual events. He regards them as the result of having dumped skilled staff, in addition to the failure to make timely investments intended to keep refineries in good working order.

"Not a single one" of Venezuela's refineries has been saved from similar events. He quoted, for instance, failures in the catalytic cracking plants in the refineries of Cardón, Amuay and El Palito.

Despite forecasts, the oil expert fears that the problem will be more and more frequent, "until it is understood that the industry is a serious business and that political speeches do not prevent accidents."

"If you buy a new car and decide to fire the mechanic, and at the same time, you do not conduct maintenance, probably the car will do well for some time, but later on, it will start breaking down. This is exactly what is going on with the Venezuelan oil industry."

While Pdvsa has ruled out any untoward effects on fuel supply, Toro Hardy said that in the case of Curacao, it forms part of the Venezuelan refining system. "Many of the components needed to manufacture gasoline in Venezuela are produced in Isla refinery," he said.

As for domestic refineries, "if they are not working, most of the barrel cannot be converted into light oil; consequently, it is traded as low-value products in the market," Toro Hardy told El Universal.

The expert is worried about the situation of the domestic oil industry and recalled that Pdvsa used to be the second largest oil company in the world. Today, however, the numbers provided by the Executive Office are not reliable.

"In general terms, we can see a very indebted Pdvsa that has mistaken its mission of exploring, producing and trading oil, and tries instead many functions that are not inherent in it."

Translated by Conchita Delgado

http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/09/15/en_eco_esp_lack-of-investment-i_15A4471773.shtml

[Peace Patriot]

1. A hit piece, with a highly selective choice of "experts." Shameful. nt

[naaman fletcher]

2. I wouldn't call it shameful,

It's an opinionated piece. It is newsworthy. Three big accidents have happened. What is the cause? An executive from befor when Chavez sacked a lot of people speaks out. Of course it is biased. Now, is anything he is saying true? It is worth knowing.

[ChangoLoa]

3. Toro Hardy worked in PDVSA before the conflict started with the president.

So if he's biased it's for another reason.

One important thing to understand about that conflict is that around 20,000 executives, technicians and workers were fired - meaning half of the total workforce of the company - which tends to demonstrate that it wasn't simply an "oil bosses' strike", as some biased commentators have tried hard to explain in the past.

[bherrera]

4. Article only quotes one expert

I believe they use only one expert, a man named Toro Hardy. But what he says may be right. What can you say about this Venezuelan oil company? For example, what are their big projects?