Explosion Rocks Venezuela's Second-Largest Refinery
More bad news for the global refining market broke late Tuesday when Venezuela's second-largest refinery halted operations after a fire erupted at the facility.
The 310,000-barrel-a-day Cardon refinery shut down earlier today, according to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter, who said a gas line connected to its diesel hydrotreater exploded.
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Venezuela's Cardón Oil Refinery, the country's second-largest, exploded and caught fire today. The facility has reportedly halted operations, per Reuters. https://t.co/2aUAJVFOID
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 6, 2026
#6Oct | Este martes se registró un incendio en la refinería Cardón, Falcón 🇻🇪, lo que provocó la paralización de las operaciones del complejo. Los equipos de emergencia continúan desplegados en la zona intentando controlar la situación en su totalidad y determinar qué originó las llamas. 📽️ @elpiojolopez
— El Nacional (@ElNacionalWeb) October 6, 2026
Bomberos controlan incendio producido en el área de lubricantes de la refinería Cardón de Punto Fijo. Extraofialmente se conoció que dicho incendio se habría producido por el disparo de un compresor. Se espera la versión oficial. https://t.co/lxrAFKagFI
— José Gregorio López (@elpiojolopez) October 6, 2026
Cardon forms part of the 955,000-barrel-a-day Paraguana Refining Center, Venezuela's largest refining complex. State-owned PDVSA operates the refinery.
Venezuela's refineries are in poor condition after years of underinvestment, deferred maintenance and recurring equipment failures.
"Venezuela's Cardon and Amuay refineries are part of the Paraguana Refining Center, which is one of the world's largest but has been operating at a fraction of capacity for the last decade because of lack of maintenance," the Energy Information Administration wrote in a recent report.
Paraguana has historically supplied fuel to China, Singapore and Cuba, with European markets also among its export destinations. However, increased US involvement in Venezuela's oil industry has likely rerouted some of those flows.