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By News wires,
02 April 2012 04:15 GMT
An explosion at Venezuela's Petrocedeno heavy oil upgrader killed one worker and injured three others on Sunday, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, said.
The accident at the 190,000-barrel-a-day facility is the latest in a string of fires and other mishaps that have plagued PDVSA-run projects throughout the South American country in recent years, according to Dow Jones.
Some critics say that the problems partially stem from insufficient investment by the Venezuelan government into maintenance as large sums of PDVSA's revenue get siphoned off to finance President Hugo Chavez's large scale social programs, the news wire said.
In a statement, PDVSA said that the explosion occurred as workers were installing a water separator. However, the company said the situation had been controlled and would be investigated.
The company identified 33-year-old Carlos Alberto Machuca as the worker killed in the accident. One other worker faced second-degree burns and two others were treated for smoke inhalation.
Petrocedeno is 60% owned by PDVSA, around 30% by France's Total and around 9.7% by Norway's Statoil.
02 April 2012 04:15 GMT
An explosion at Venezuela's Petrocedeno heavy oil upgrader killed one worker and injured three others on Sunday, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, said.
The accident at the 190,000-barrel-a-day facility is the latest in a string of fires and other mishaps that have plagued PDVSA-run projects throughout the South American country in recent years, according to Dow Jones.
Some critics say that the problems partially stem from insufficient investment by the Venezuelan government into maintenance as large sums of PDVSA's revenue get siphoned off to finance President Hugo Chavez's large scale social programs, the news wire said.
In a statement, PDVSA said that the explosion occurred as workers were installing a water separator. However, the company said the situation had been controlled and would be investigated.
The company identified 33-year-old Carlos Alberto Machuca as the worker killed in the accident. One other worker faced second-degree burns and two others were treated for smoke inhalation.
Petrocedeno is 60% owned by PDVSA, around 30% by France's Total and around 9.7% by Norway's Statoil.