Venezuelan PDVSA stops gasoline production at El Palito refinery

PDVSA is a Venezuelan state company.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA halted gasoline production at the 146,000 barrels per day (bpd) El Palito refinery just days after resuming operations, three people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The stoppage at the refinery, on the Venezuelan central coast, occurs when long lines of vehicles are registered at service stations, waiting to load fuel in the once prosperous OPEC nation; experiencing a chronic acute gasoline shortage. Residents on the outskirts of the capital Caracas blocked roads this week to protest the shortage.
PDVSA’s refining network, with a capacity of 1.3 million bpd, is almost collapsed after years of divestment, while US sanctions against the government of Nicolás Maduro and PDVSA have complicated fuel imports this year.
PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The only plant currently producing gasoline is the 310,000 bpd Cardón refinery located in northwestern Venezuela.