Shafaqna English– In its heyday, the Paraguana Refining Center in western Venezuela embodied the country’s petroleum might and its determination to leverage its vast crude stockpiles for economic gain, transforming raw oil into valuable products for both domestic consumption and international trade. It was the crown jewel of Venezuela’s oil industry.
Currently, the Paraguana complex—which boasts a nameplate capacity of 955,000 barrels per day—is functioning well below its potential output.
Its decline has been a slow, decades-long process that predates and bears no relation to the strong seismic events that rattled Venezuela just last month, suggesting that the facility’s troubles stem from chronic underinvestment and structural decay rather than any recent natural disaster.