Posted on 08/25/2012 11:53:03 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Balls of fire rose over Amuay refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela
An explosion tore through Venezuela's biggest oil refinery on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, wounding more than 80 others and halting operations at the huge facility.
State TV showed flames and billowing clouds of smoke coming from the refinery as dawn broke. Nearby homes were damaged by the blast, and officials said a 10-year-old child was among the dead.
"Unfortunately, 24 people have died, the majority of them members of our National Guard," Vice President Elias Jaua told reporters in local Falcon state."
The deadly blast, caused by a gas leak, followed several minor accidents and unplanned stoppages that have afflicted state oil company PDVSA over the last decade, prompting critics to accuse President Hugo Chavez's government of mismanagement.
Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said he expected production at the 645,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) Amuay facility, which makes up two-thirds of the world's second largest refinery complex, to resume within two days. He said the blaze hit nine storage tanks holding mostly crude oil and some processed fuels.
Located on a peninsula overlooking the Caribbean sea in the west of Venezuela, Amuay is part of the Paraguana Refining Center, the second-biggest refinery complex in the world with an overall capacity of 955,000 bpd.
Amuay accounts for half of Venezuela's total domestic output - about 1.3 million bpd - of refined fuels.
Ramirez told reporters that PDVSA crews working through the night managed to reduce the intensity of the blaze by 80 percent, and that the company would not suffer any shortages.
"We have all our other storage facilities," he said.
He had earlier described the blast, which happened at about 1am local time as a "significant explosion."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
24 people have died, the majority of them members of our National Guard
They are using National Guard as refinery workers?
Atlas is shrugging.
I wonder if anybody in our media will be looking at the satellite images of this refinery for the next week or so to see if any and how much oil gets into the Caribbean.Socialist countries can't cause pollution, just like black people can't be racists.
In totally unrelated news, pump price expected to spike 25¢/gal today in the US...
My prayers for the dead and injured.
That being written when is the US gov going to offer money to rebuild?
Just asking.
Between the Cubans running their ports (story of a few days ago) and this, the place is going to crash hard, soon.
No, they were probbly there using bayonets to drive the workers back to their stations.
Just saying
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Chevron-Oil-Refinery-Blast-Rocks-Richmond-2939897.php
If you are expecting a defense of the competence of Chevron, you will have a long wait. FWIW, I’ve been boycotting Chevron since the early 1980s — too much getting in bed with nasty Communist regimes.
I doubt any US agency was involved.
Should I tell the girls at the local CITGO they’re gonna have a little unpaid vacation?
Hugo Chavez has used the military to take over many private businesses, so this does not come as a surprise to me. I find it sad, but not a surprise.
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