Venezuela's Cardon refinery halted amid fire, sources say

Oct 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Cardon refinery, the country's second largest, has been halted amid a fire at one of its units, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

A gas line that passes through the unit of the refinery that produces gas oil opened and ⁠the entire refinery is stopped, two sources said . Another also said the refinery was halted, as were its boilers.

One source said the blaze was already under control, while two reported personnel had been evacuated.

State oil company PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for ⁠comment about the state of the 310,000 barrel-per-day refinery, which is part of the PDVSA-operated 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center.

Videos posted on social media showed ⁠huge columns of flames and smoke billowing from the refinery. Reuters could not immediately verify the content ⁠of the videos but other sources reported seeing flames and smoke at the refinery.

Output ⁠at a crude distillation unit and the fluid catalytic cracker were halted at the refinery last month due to insufficient feedstock.

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Reporting by Reuters

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