June 26 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s crude production levels were unaffected by two earthquakes this week that have killed almost 1,000 people, the country’s oil minister said on Friday, but power outages remain a hurdle to fully restoring port, refining and petrochemical operations.
Roads have been reopened and power service has been brought back in many regions that had interruptions due to the earthquakes on Wednesday, which left most of Venezuela’s vast energy infrastructure — including its key oilfields and export terminals — untouched.
Overall crude output stands at 1.2 million barrels per day, oil minister Paula Henao said in a radio interview, adding that authorities were assessing fuel stocks, but gas and gasoline supplies would be guaranteed to people.
“We are in normal operational conditions, all wells active and producing,” she said.
However, the areas closest to the epicenter in the central region remained mostly without electricity due to an unresolved outage on a power transmission line, sources and residents said.
POWER OUTAGES HAMPER RECOVERY
The lack of power is creating obstacles to transporting injured people, operating hospitals, discharging imported goods at ports, distributing aid and producing fuel and petrochemicals, the sources said.
The 146,000-barrel-per-day El Palito refinery on Friday remained almost completely out of service due to lack of power, while the restart of the Moron Petrochemical Complex, the country’s second-largest, was progressing slowly for the same reason, workers from those facilities said.
The Planta Centro and Termocentro power plants, also located in the central region, have been unable to restore all the units they had in service before the earthquakes, they added.
At Puerto Cabello, the country’s largest port for bulk cargo, there were only partial operations on Friday due to insufficient power, leaving a line of trucks waiting to receive and transport imported goods, other sources said.
The La Guaira port, where the government used to receive a large portion of imports, remained shut down.
AIRPORT DAMAGE UNCONFIRMED
Authorities have provided scant information on the status of ports and industrial plants, saying on Thursday some power plants and the Moron complex were trying to restart.
The information ministry and utility Corpoelec did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The Transportation Ministry said La Guaira port would be turned into an emergency operation center, without providing details.
Extensive damage to infrastructure reported by sources and on social media at the country’s main airport, Maiquetia, has not been officially confirmed, while airlines suspended flights temporarily or reassigned them to other airports in the country.
A source close to operations said on Friday the government is trying to reopen Maiquetia for limited commercial flights in early July.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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