The fire was traced to a small tank used for blending Boscan crude with naphtha.
The terminal, which is owned by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is located in the Lesser Antilles, north of Venezuela and next to the islands of Curacao and Aruba.
The terminal is used mainly to store crude and fuel oil, but in 2008, the owner converted one to two crude tanks to store up to 1 million bbl of naphtha for blending purposes.
Naphtha in tanks could be used for blending Napo and Boscan crude to increase the gravity.
Alternatively, PDVSA could rent out the storage space to naphtha traders as PDVSA issues naphtha sell and buy tenders on a regular basis.
Unblended Napo crude is typically shipped to the U.S. West Coast, and the blended Napo crude is sold to the East Coast via pipelines.
Boscan crude is sold to New Jersey to make asphalt. Besides Bonaire, PDVSA also has oil terminals and storage facilities in the Bahamas and St. Eustatius in the Caribbean.