Recent shipments of Iranian crude sent for processing at PdV's 140,000 b/d El Palito refinery — part of an energy deal between Caracas and Tehran — caused operational problems that required the crude to be processed instead at western Venezuela's Centro de Refinacion Paraguana (CRP) refining complex, sources told Argus. The El Palito refinery had many problems handling the Iranian crude in part because it was too acidic, said exiled oil union organizer Ivan Freites, with problems centered on distillation tower operations. "So they opted to send the crude instead to CRP, and that is where they are processing it," ... (full story)