Death By A Thousand Cuts -- Venezuela -- Natural Gas Shortage Shuts Down State-Owned Petrochemical Plant -- October 25, 2017

Since Venezuelans don't have the money to buy anything anyway it probably won't be noticed that one of Venezuelans giant petrochemical plants has shut down due to a lack of natural gas. Apparently, shut-downs are hardly new. Story over at ArgusMedia:

Venezuela's shortage of natural gas has forced state-owned petrochemicals firm Pequiven to almost completely shut down the 3mn t/yr El Tablazo complex in Zulia state, according to a recent internal report obtained by Argus.

The Pequiven report on El Tablazo's operational status dated September 2017 shows that state-owned oil company PdV's failure to supply El Tablazo has cascaded across the complex.

El Tablazo's biggest operational problem is a lack of reliable gas supplies, the report says. Frequent plant equipment breakdowns, regional power outages and a critical shortage of hard currency to finance equipment and feedstock imports are also major factors in El Tablazo's operational paralysis.

El Tablazo's two olefins plants shut down on 24 July and 13 September, respectively, because of insufficient propane/ethane feedstock, the report notes. Lack of gas also forced Pequiven to shut down MVC and PVC production at about mid-year.

Pequiven's polypropylene and polyethylene units at El Tablazo, including Polinter, Propilven and Pralca, have also been forced to suspend production because of the gas shortage.

Much more at the link.