Paraguaná Peninsula
Encyclopedia
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, situated in the north of Falcón State. The island of Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
lies 27 km to the north. Bonaire and Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
are slightly further away. The Paraguaná Peninsula is connected to the rest of the state by a natural isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
of Médanos
Médanos
In South America, the word médanos refers to continental dunes whereas dunas refers to dunes of coastal origin. Médanos may be vegetated or unvegetated. For example, the médanos of La Pampa in Argentina are mostly vegetated dunes with occasional blowouts. On the other hand, the dunes of Médanos...
. The Peninsula contains two oil refineries
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
, in the West city of Punto Fijo
Punto Fijo
Punto Fijo is the capital city of Carirubana Autonomy County of Falcón State, Venezuela. This city are formed for the Urban Parishes of Carirubana and Norte . Is the largest city in the Paraguaná Peninsula. Punto Fijo is located on the north-western shores of the Venezuelan state of Falcón. With a...
. The output of these refinieries is shipped internationally through the ports of Amuay
Amuay
Amuay is a fishing town located in the Paraguana Peninsula, in Falcón state, Venezuela. It is a natural bay, also has a fishing port and the bigger part of the Paraguana Refinery Complex is located there....
and Cardón. The Peninsula of Paraguana lies in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Because of it being almost completely surrounded by water, the peninsula is sometimes called an island, and is sometimes considered as part of the Leeward Antilles
Leeward Antilles
The Leeward Antilles are a chain of islands in the Caribbean – specifically, the southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles along the southeastern fringe of the Caribbean Sea, just north of the Venezuelan coast of the South American mainland...
.
Economy
Paraguana currently contains two large oil refinery, and the largest oil refinery complex, the Paraguaná Refinery ComplexParaguana Refinery Complex
The Paraguaná Refinery Complex is a crude oil refinery located in the Venezuelan state Falcón and currently considered the world´s second largest refinery complex, just after Jamnagar Refinery in India. It's the result of the fusion of Amuay Refinery, Bajo Grande Refinery and Cardón Refinery....
. Most of the oil that PDVSA acquires is processed in this complex. A lot of engineers that work in the refinerees have moved to the United States to work in Citgo
Citgo
CITGO Petroleum Corporation is a United States-incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de...
.
Paraguana is a duty free zone, so many international shops, notably Arabian, have opened.
While most of the economy is centered on the oil industry, a tourism growth is vastly growing. While most of the tourists come from other parts of Venezuela, many tourists come from surrounding countries such as Colombia, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and even a few tourists come from United States. The beaches serve as a large part of tourism. A luxury beachfront hotel called Eurobuilding Villa Caribe. Paraguana also takes advantage of the duty free shopping for tourism and opened a Paraguana Mall which is used for that. Two shopping malls are in the area. The mall, Las Virtudes, attracts a lot of people, and the mall, Sambil Paraguana
Sambil Paraguaná
Sambil Paraguaná Ciudad Turistica is a shopping mall and an urban development in Paraguaná. It contains a hotel, a movie theatre, and a supermarket. The mall has helped bring a lot of tourism to Paraguaná, and attracts many tourists from all around Venezuela, and even some international travelers....
, attracts many tourists, and has a luxury hotel, Lidotel, in it.
