PDVSA: Exports OK after tanker collision

PVDSA crash: Venezuelan company said exports not affected

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By News Wires

 17 January 2012 20:04 GMT

PDVSA said on Tuesday that a tanker hit a floating platform connected to one of its heavy crude upgraders on Saturday, but production was not affected.

Reuters reported a maritime source as saying that exports from the 130,000 barrel-per-day Petroanzoategui facility were halted after the ship's propeller apparently damaged a naphtha pipeline.

Petroanzoategui is one of four Venezuelan upgraders that convert extra heavy Orinoco crude into lighter oil. It was offline for major maintenance from September to late December.

"The incident on 14 January, when the tanker ... collided with the upgrader's monobuoy, left the loading and unloading system temporarily out of service," PDVSA said in a statement.

The company said it was now routing upgraded crude by pipeline to…

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