PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela (Dispatches) -- State firms from Iran and Venezuela will start in the coming weeks a 100-day revamp of the South American nation’s largest refining complex to restore its crude distillation capacity, Reuters reported citing what it called sources close to the plan.
The effort by state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) to boost fuel output at the Paraguana Refining Center marks a step toward ending Venezuela’s reliance on U.S. refinery technology, the sources told the news agency.
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest crude reserves, has struggled in recent years to produce enough gasoline and diesel due to refinery outages in the face of U.S. and sanctions and political turmoil resulting from agitation by the Western-backed opposition. Long lines at gasoline stations have been common since 2020.
Tehran has strengthened ties with Caracas in recent years, providing crude and condensate as well as parts and feedstock for Venezuela’s aging 1.3 million barrel per day oil (bpd) refining network.
A unit of NIORDC signed a 110-million-euro contract with PDVSA in May to repair Venezuela’s smallest refinery, the 146,000-bpd El Palito in the center of the country, a project that is currently underway.
The companies are now expected to sign in the coming weeks a 460-million-euro contract to revamp the 955,000-bpd Paraguana refinery complex on the coast of western Venezuela, Reuters said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian arrived in Caracas on Friday and met Venezuela’s oil minister Tareck El Aissami, according to tweets from the Iranian embassy in Caracas and Venezuela’s oil ministry.
Aissami hailed Iran’s experiences in the field of energy and technology, saying his country is willing to benefit from them and forge closer cooperation with Tehran.
The Iranian minister called for strengthening of cooperation with Venezuela and implementation of their agreements through removing obstacles and challenges.
Earlier, Amir-Abdollahian met President Nicolas Maduro at his office where they made a review of the process of cooperation between Iran and Venezuela, calling for efforts to monitor and expedite the implementation of joint projects.
They also stressed the need for enhanced vigilance in protecting their national interests against foreign pressures, calling for increased contacts and consultations between the authorities of the two countries.

Amirabdollahian described the Venezuelan leader’s visit to Iran in 2022 and the conclusion of a comprehensive cooperation agreement between the two states as a milestone in the bilateral relations and emphasized the necessity for rapid implementation of the deals.
Maduro, for his part, sent his regards for Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The Venezuelan president touched on the valuable experiences of Venezuela and Iran in dealing with common challenges, and stressed the need to strengthen cooperation with Tehran.
During Maduro’s official visit to Tehran in June 2022, Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year partnership agreement to develop bilateral ties despite the U.S. and Western pressure.
The partnership agreement includes cooperation in the fields of science, technology, agriculture, oil and gas, petrochemicals, tourism as well as culture.
Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Caracas from the Nicaraguan capital where he met President Daniel Ortega and discussed countering the U.S. and its sanctions.
“We have a common enemy. The enemy which you fought and defeated in 1979 is that same foe that we rose up against in the same year” the Nicaraguan president said.
“Although the sanctions of the United States and some states have caused grave problems, we have managed to rely on our domestic capabilities and make notable progress in various spheres,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
On Saturday, the Iranian minister headed to Havana for talks with Cuban leaders.
The Paraguana revamp project will allow NIORDC to hire contractors and outsource work to repair five of the complex’s nine distillation units, which do the primary refining of crude oil, Reuters said.
Paraguana - composed of the Amuay and Cardon refineries - operated at 25% of capacity this month even after the restart of Amuay’s catalytic cracker, a key unit for gasoline.
Iran will be in charge of parts procurement, installation and inspection before handling the refinery’s operations back to PDVSA, the report said.
The planned distillation unit overhaul will combine Chinese and Iranian parts and equipment in refineries originally built with U.S. technology, the sources said.
If the revamp succeeds, a larger overhaul could follow in 2024 and 2025, according to the sources.
A project to restore the complex’s dilapidated power supply is also planned as part of the revamp, they said.
Crude supply to the Amuay and Cardon refineries could be modified to increase motor fuel output, as NIORDC did at El Palito, where Iranian oil was added to the refinery’s feedstock, the people said.
Iran’s technicians also are considering adding upgraded crude from the Petromonagas project, a PDVSA joint venture with a Russian state oil company, one of the people added.
The Iran-flagged cargo vessel Golsan arrived in Venezuela this month carrying equipment, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. The ship made a first stop at La Guaira port, near Caracas, and proceeded to PDVSA’s Jose port, near the Puerto la Cruz refinery in eastern Venezuela, according to the data.
Iranian technicians have inspected Venezuela’s refineries several times in the last year to prepare for the arrival of at least 400 Iranian workers who will work alongside between 1,000 and 1,500 local staff and contractors, the sources said.
Venezuelan officials have been assigned the task of finding temporary housing and vehicles for the workers, including the possibility of building a camp close to Paraguana.