Orinoco flows: Petrocedeno processes crude from Venezuela's heavy oil belt
PDVSA ready to reopen Petrocedeno taps
Venezuela has completed major maintenance at the Petrocedeno heavy crude upgrader and expects to renew the plant's shipments in May, state oil company PDVSA has said.
Norway's StatoilHydro and France's Total are PDVSA's minority partners at the Petrocedeno project, which leftist President Hugo Chavez nationalised last yearm Reuters reported.
The maintenance, which began on 25 February, included the cleaning, inspection, maintenance and repair of the multibillion-dollar upgrader, PDVSA said.
"It is expect that with the restart of the upgrader this week, the (company) will renew its sales of Zuata Sweet in the month of May," said PDVSA in a statement, referring to the upgraded crude.
PDVSA did not provide further details on the upgrader's restart.
The Petrocedeno project has the capacity to produce 200,000 barrels per day of heavy crude that it can then process into about 180,000 bpd of more valuable synthetic crude.
Petrocedeno was one of four multi-billion projects in the Orinoco heavy oil belt that were operated by foreign companies until Chavez seized a majority stake in a wave of nationalisations last year.
Total and Statoil reached agreement over compensation for the takeover.