Picture of the PDVSA CRP Amuay refinery after the explosion near Punto Fijo, municipality of Los Taques, Falcon State, Paraguaná Peninsula Venezuela. Monday, September 2, 2012.
The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Falcon, denied the official figure of 41 victims and claim that more than 100 dead in explosion in PDVSA refinery of Amuay, which broke Saturday, August 25, on Venezuela’s PDVSA largest refinery center, PDVSA Paraguana Refining Center – CRP, in Los Taques municipality, near Punto Fijo, Falcon State, in the Paraguana peninsula, Venezuela.
The president of Fedecámaras Falcon, Xiomara Castro said there are 13 missing and twice more dead that the Venezuelan President Chavez Government care to admits. In an interview with the Venezuelan online newspaper Descifrado. Castro accused Chavez of hiding the truth and prevent society approaching the vicinity of the refinery for information.
«The National Guard maintains a strict siege on the affected areas, because the Government does not want anybody to know the real casualties from this tragedy,» she said and added: «The authorities stopped searching for human remains, prompting a profound discomfort in the relatives of missing persons.»
The Amuay refinery where the tragic explosion occurred at 01:00 AM of the morning of August 25, was founded in 1950 and is under the operations of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company and can process 645.000 barrels per day (bpd) . It is located in the state of Falcón in Paraguaná Peninsula, northwestern Venezuela.
For now the causes the gas leak and explosion are unknown, said venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. On Saturday 25, the venezuelan Bolivarian president ordered a » profound » investigation and said that «various scenarios» are been considered.
According to PDVSA Vice-President Eulogio Del Pino a leak of propane and butane gas was detected a hour before the blast. However, the contingency plan was not implemented. No operating units were reported damaged by the blast but three storage tanks were burning. All three burning storage tanks were extinguished by 28 August 2012, reported Wikipedia.
The tragic episode in Venezuela was not a surprise, several accidents have occurred in PDVSA facilities since 2002, when President Chavez fired 18,000 PDVSA employees and replaced them with party loyalists. The accident record and escalation of incidents at PDVSA refineries shown that an explosion was imminent. In fact, the Paraguana Refining Center (CRP) with a installed capacity of 960.000 bpd , which is composed Amuay (645.000 bpd) , Cardon (297.000 bpd) and Bajo Grande refineries (18.000 bpd) , had a record of 100 fire accidents during the past year.
According to wikipedia, in 2003, two workers were injured in an explosion at an electrical substation at the Amuay refinery. In 2005, six accidents happened, including an explosion in November 2005, which killed five workers and injured 20. In 2006, five accidents happened which killed three and injured five workers. In the same year, the 54,000-barrel-per-day (8,600 m 3 /d) catalytic reformer unit was temporarily shut down due to a fire in a furnace ‘blew out’.
In March 2011, a fire that broke out at the hydrodesulphurization unit 4 (HD4) of Amuay refinery; however, the fire was out shortly and the refinery continued operating. In 2012, a distillation unit of the Amuay refinery was briefly stopped due to fire. In March 2012, the Cardon refinery was shut for 8 hours due to air supply fault.
The Secretary-General of the United Federation of Oil Workers Iván Freites blamed the government for a «lack of maintenance and investment» in the oil industry and stated these as the main causes of the incident. He recalled that the union has complained since 2011 about problems with damaged equipment, lack of spare parts and other unsafe conditions.
Castro said, that at least 46 commercial (11 totally devastated) and 1,600 homes were affected by the explosion and shockwave. He explained that small businesses (food sales, cybercafes) operating in family homes were included in the list of affected homes.
Tourism in the Paraguaná peninsula fell dramatically, especially in the municipality of Los Taques. «The tourists are gone, and even those who were buying in the duty free zone, the only tourist there are the people who are going to see what is leftover from Amuay» he said.
Moreover, Castro noted that the 100 houses that will be delivered to the victims of the explosion were originally awarded to those affected by the rains, so that the latter will have to wait to get a home.
According to president Chavez, the plan was to restart the facility by 31 August. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said that PDVSA had ten days’ production stockpiled and production at other facilities could be increased, and there would be no «major effects» on oil exports.
