Fire at Venezuela gas facility injures 6 workers, causes damage
- At least six workers injured, some of them with large burns
- Fire erupted during gas depressurizing at compression plant
A large explosion and fire at a gas processing facility in Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo left six workers injured on Friday and damaged the plant, according to state-run oil company PDVSA, incident reports, sources and videos.
Fires and power outages are frequent at Venezuela's aging oil and gas facilities, especially in the western region, as a longstanding lack of foreign investment and U.S. sanctions have hindered maintenance.
PDVSA said in a statement it activated emergency protocols and evacuated personnel at the facility following the morning explosion. The company also confirmed that response teams assisted a total of six injured workers.
A video showed the fire had been extinguished in the afternoon following hours of work to control it, which required the shutdown of gas pipelines feeding the facility.
Earlier reports and videos seen by media showed two workers who had jumped into the water suffered large burns. They were taken to a nearby hospital in the western city of Maracaibo, while four others were reported with less serious injuries.
The fire erupted during a gas depressurizing maneuver at the Lamargas compression plant, according to PDVSA's internal reports of the incident seen by Reuters.
The gas facility is part of the Lago Cinco project, operated by China Concord Resources Corp under a contract extended by PDVSA to produce crude in the lake's shallow waters.
The facility was damaged, one of the reports said, without elaborating.
PDVSA said a technical committee would investigate the cause and added that the event did not affect the continuity of oil and gas operations in western Venezuela.
Washington is encouraging foreign investment in Venezuela's energy industry as part of an ambitious $100-B reconstruction plan it launched in the aftermath of the U.S. capture of deposed President Nicolas Maduro in January.
However, frequent accidents and the deep deterioration of PDVSA's facilities, from power plants to oilfields and refineries, continue to cast doubt on what is really achievable, analysts and potential investors have warned.
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