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Venezuelan refinery ablaze after lightning strike
Topic Started: 12 Aug 2013, 01:20 AM (110 Views)
skibboy
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Venezuelan refinery ablaze after lightning strike

From Marysabel Huston-Crespo, CNN
August 11, 2013

(CNN) -- Firefighters were battling a blaze at a Venezuelan refinery Sunday after a lightning strike, a top official in the country's state oil company said.

Lightning struck Sunday afternoon at a Petroleos de Venezuela refinery in the northern city of Puerto La Cruz, causing an explosion and subsequent fire, company Vice President Asdrubal Chavez said.

No injuries have been reported, Chavez said.

Authorities are evacuating residents who live near the refinery, Anzoategui state Gov. Aristobulo Isturiz said.

Officials said lightning struck a pond at the refinery around 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

Video of the scene shows bright orange flames shooting up from the ground and a column of thick, black smoke rising far above the refinery.

In a Twitter post, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was in close contact with teams on the ground.

The state oil company describes the Puerto La Cruz refinery as one of its "most important centers of crude oil processing."

About 1,000 workers are based at the facility, the company said.

CNN's Claudia Rebaza and Ana Melgar contributed to this report.

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skibboy
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12 August 2013

Fire at Venezuela's Puerto La Cruz oil refinery 'over'

Posted Image
A storage tank at the Puerto La Cruz refinery was hit by lightning, sparking the blaze

The vice-president of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, Asdrubal Chavez, has said the blaze at one of the country's largest oil refineries has been extinguished.

Officials say lightning sparked the fire at a storage tank of the Puerto La Cruz refinery, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and leading to the evacuation of the surrounding area.

The authorities say no one was injured.

An explosion at the country's largest refinery killed 55 people last year.

The Puerto La Cruz refinery can produce nearly 200,000 barrels of oil a day.

Production 'not affected'

Posted Image

Production has not been affected by Sunday's blaze, Mr Chavez said.

Soon after a storage tank was reportedly hit by lightning at 15:15 local time (19:45GMT), authorities ordered the evacuation of residents within 1km (half a mile) of the plant on the Caribbean coast as a precaution.

Large thunderstorms are currently drenching the country, says the BBC's Irene Caselli, in Caracas.

Many residents were seen abandoning the area and posted pictures of black smoke billowing from the refinery on social media websites.

After teams on the ground fought the fire for more than two hours, President Nicolas Maduro wrote on Twitter that the fire had been "controlled".

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world.

A year ago, an explosion at the country's largest refinery killed 55 people and halted production.

The Puerto La Cruz refinery is one of six PDVSA facilities operating in Venezuela.

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