Venezuelan oil refinery set on fire by lightning

An oil refinery in Venezuela experienced a large fire on Sunday (August 11th) after the facility was struck by lightning. The Puerto La Cruz refinery was set ablaze after lightning reportedly hit a storage tank. The fire caused large plumes of black smoke to engulf the Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) oil refinery, but luckily no one was injured during the blaze.

This is not the only case of lightning igniting fuel at a refinery is not the only time such an incident occurred. Last year two similar incidents saw two storage tanks ignited by lightning at a different facility. The country has been repeatedly affected by accidents at fuel facilities over the last few years, the worst of which was the gas leak that occurred at the 645,000 barrel per day Amuay oil refinery, leading to a huge explosion. The incident saw 55 people killed and hundreds of homes around the facility destroyed.  

Reportedly the fire at the Puerto La Cruz was extinguished after only a few hours, in which firefighters worked in pouring rain to control the blaze. All staff were evacuated from the facility and, as an added precaution, residents living within a one kilometre radius of the facility were also evacuated.

According to the vice-president of the oil company, Asdrubal Chavez, oil production at the nearly 200,000 barrel a day facility was not affected by the fire. Due to the fire being contained so quickly, the damage to the facility was kept at a minimum, meaning that the oil refinery is able to continue functioning as normal, said Mr Chavez.

Many residents of the area chose to leave the vicinity as a precaution, possibly inspired following last year's gas leak and subsequent explosion. However, those that were evacuated from their homes are expected to be able to return shortly, now that the fire has been completely extinguished.  

The full extent of the damage to the facility and the surrounding area is not yet known, but pictures show that although the fire and smoke seemed quite high, the majority of the area was not affected.