Caracas, April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA,
the state oil company, restarted a crude oil distillation unit at
its Amuay refinery, after the 130,000 barrel-a-day unit was closed
for unscheduled maintenance.

The crude unit, part of Venezuela's 940,000 barrel-a-day
northwestern Paraguana refining complex, resumed full processing
capacity Thursday after technical failure at the crude unit forced
the company shut it down for maintenance April 1.

Amuay, the largest of two refineries making up Paraguana, is
divided into several units that processes 635,000 barrels of oil a
day into gasoline, distillates and other products. Most are
exported to the United States.

Bloomberg

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), May 25, 2000