Venezuela's second-largest refinery Cardon halts operations after explosion and fire
Venezuela's Cardon refinery, the country's second-largest, has been shut down entirely after an explosion and fire caused by a leaking high-pressure gas pipeline linked to its diesel hydrotreating unit. The blaze was contained within an hour with no casualties, but damage to core process units has taken the plant offline. The refinery has a nameplate capacity of about 310,000 barrels per day.
Venezuela's second-largest refinery, the Cardon refinery, has been completely shut down after a sudden explosion at one of its units. The fire started at a high-pressure gas pipeline connected to the diesel hydrotreating unit; leaking flammable material caused several violent explosions, forcing an emergency shutdown of the plant's power and processing units and the evacuation of operators. The fire was brought under control within an hour and caused no casualties, but technical damage to core process units has taken the refinery off the pipeline network. The Cardon refinery has a nameplate capacity of about 310,000 barrels per day and is a key pillar of the Paraguana refining complex, whose designed capacity of 955,000 bpd provides more than half of Venezuela's vehicle fuel supply. The incident exposed long-standing gaps in metal inspection, pressure testing and preventive maintenance at high-risk process sections. Sources: CCTV News (2026-10-07), Reuters (2026-10-06).