Venezuela has extinguished the oil refinery fire

Three days after an explosion at Venezuela's largest oil refinery, Amuay, Venezuelan firefighters completely extinguished the fire at three of the nine fuel tanks that caught fire after the explosion.

State television quoted an employee of the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, who asked to remain anonymous, confirming that the fire had now been completely extinguished at the three fuel tanks.

Explosion at Amuay refinery. (Source: Reuters)

Earlier, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the fire had spread to a third tank at around 2 p.m. on August 27 (local time). However, he also said the fires did not affect the structure of the plant or Venezuela's oil export activities.

The explosion at the Amuay oil refinery in the early morning of August 25 left more than 120 people injured, including at least 41 dead. The explosion also burned down 209 houses and 11 nearby shops, becoming one of the most horrific tragedies in the history of this South American country.

Amuay is Venezuela's largest refinery, with a capacity of 645,000 barrels of oil per day. The plant, located in the northeastern state of Falcon, is owned by Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA and is part of the Paraguana Refinery Center, one of the world's largest refinery complexes with a total capacity of 955,000 barrels per day. Several neighboring plants of Amuay, as well as members of the Falcon Oil Workers Union, have accused PDVSA of negligence in allowing the fatal accident to occur.

Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is the largest oil exporter in South America and the fifth largest in the world with the largest reserves of heavy crude oil estimated at 99.4 billion barrels./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT