Damage from quakes limited at Venezuela's oil infrastructure, workers say (updated)

Eni SpA

25/06/2026 15:31

New throughout, adds details and background on terminals and facilities, preliminary assessments from workers
Largest export terminals were fully in service
Small 146,000-bpd El Palito refinery hit by power outages
A leak, storage infrastructure damages found in Moron
Key Planta Centro power plant restarting
Oil executives worried over lack of power in many oilfields
By Tibisay Romero, Mircely Guanipa and Marianna Parraga
MORON, Venezuela, June 25 (Reuters) - Preliminary assessments by workers of Venezuela's vast oil, gas and refining infrastructure so far showed limited damage from earthquakes that killed more than 180 people and injured over 1,500, knocking down buildings and triggering power blackouts.
 Most of the country's largest output regions, refineries, pipelines and terminals are far from the affected cities. Still, lack of power has cast doubt on whether oil output can be sustained at its pre-earthquake level of close to 1.2 million barrels per day, sources said.
 In the central region, close to the quakes' epicenters, Venezuela's second largest petrochemical complex in operation, Moron, was restarting on Thursday after a brief shutdown, while the small El Palito refinery remained partially out of service, authorities and sources said.     
Infrastructure assessments will continue this week as repairs are done. Meanwhile, vessels were loading crude and fuel without interruption on Thursday at the country's largest export terminals — Jose, Puerto la Cruz, Amuay, Cardon and Bajo Grande — the sources said, adding some delays are expected as paperwork and authorizations are taking longer. 
Venezuela's largest refining complex, Paraguana, was operating at the same levels as before the quakes, workers there said, while no major damage was reported at the country's main oil output regions, mostly concentrated in the Orinoco Belt and in Western Venezuela.
 Major international energy companies said their projects were operational.
State companies Pequiven and PDVSA have not provided information about the status of their operations. Venezuela's oil ministry did not reply to a request for comment. 
 The condition of some domestic fuel terminals and storage facilities near areas affected by the quakes remained unclear.
 
 RESTARTING AND ASSESSING
The 146,000-barrel-per-day El Palito refinery, the country's smallest, lost power after power lines were damaged, forcing the shutdown of plants including its fluid catalytic cracker, three sources said.
In Moron, the petrochemical complex's restart was confirmed by Mayor Emily Riera. Some storage infrastructure there collapsed, but many plants could return to service after assessments, according to a source and videos posted on social media. It was not immediately clear if a leak from a storage tank detected on Wednesday had been repaired.
Carlos Miquileno, head of firefighters for Moron and Urama, said a key state-operated power plant in the central region, Planta Centro, was expected to restore supply starting on Thursday, which could improve oil processing in the coming days.
With widespread power outages lingering in several cities, oil executives from foreign firms operating with state-run PDVSA in joint ventures have noted that crude output levels could be hit by the lack of electricity in some oilfields.
Many energy companies with operations or offices in the country have been accounting for staff as they conduct initial assessments on the condition of oilfields and plants. 
U.S. oil major Chevron CVX.N, Italy's Eni ENI.MI, Spain's Repsol REP.MC and the UK's Shell SHEL.L said all personnel had been accounted for. 
Chevron said the company "remains operational," while Eni and Repsol said the quake had not impacted operations. The Perla project by Eni and Repsol, responsible for 50% of the gas feed demanded by the country's thermoelectrical plants, was not affected and gas output there remains uninterrupted, a Repsol spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Tibisay Romero, Mircely Guanipa, Marianna Parraga, Vivian Sequera, Deisy Buitrago and Sheila Dang; Editing by Mark Porter, Sanjeev Miglani and David Gregorio)
((marianna.parraga@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713 371 7559; Reuters Messaging: @mariannaparraga))