Petroleos de Venezuela to Ship Reformulated Gasoline Sunday

June 18 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, will resume exports of reformulated gasoline from its Paraguana refinery on Sunday, almost seven months after they were halted because of a nationwide work stoppage.

A shipment of 300,000 barrels will be sent to the U.S. east coast, said a Petroleos de Venezuela spokesman at Paraguana, the world's largest refinery complex. The shipment was supposed to go out a month ago but was repeatedly delayed because of planned maintenance at the Puerto La Cruz refinery, said the spokesman.

The shutdown of the Puerto La Cruz refinery meant that the gasoline that had been slated to be shipped was kept back for domestic use, the spokesman said. The Puerto La Cruz refinery resumed production last week.

Exports from Paraguana, which includes the Amuay and Cardon refineries, were slashed in December when a nationwide strike began. The refinery resumed operations in April, two months after the end of the strike, which was aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez.

Paraguana exported about 3 million barrels of gasoline, all conventional unleaded, in April and May. Reformulated gasoline, which is especially blended to reduce tailpipe emissions, is more difficult to produce.