Incident Report

Subject:           MEXICO - PEMEX Mexico Refinery Blast Kills One, Injures Five

Date of Email report:  Thu 03/10/2013

Report Detail:

Picture (Device Independent Bitmap)
An explosion at a Mexican oil refineryPEMEXTuesday, October 1.

At least one was killed and another five were injured Tuesday in an explosion at a crude oil refinery in the central state of Hidalgo operated by Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the company said. The blast occurred in the afternoon at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery located in Tula, Hidalgo, some 100 kilometres north of the capital Mexico City.

In a statement, Pemex reported that the accident happened at 03:15 p.m. local time (0915 GMT) at 500-1 unit in the Hidros Plant Unit I of the Miguel Hidalgo refinery while realising maintenance work. The explosion came during the scheduled start-up of the Hidros 1 plant, and work there has not been suspended due to the accident, Pemex said.

The six injured are being treated at a Pemex hospital and a clinic operated by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) that is near the blast site, the company said, adding that one of the injured died later. Pemex said the six victims of the accident, three are workers of the company and the other three are from contractors, were treated in hospital, but did not specify the severity of injuries of the five wounded. The cause of the deadly blast remains unknown and authorities have given no explanation. Pemex is the biggest enterprise in Mexico, the largest taxpayer in the country and one of the largest oil companies in Latin America.

Additional Documentation:

 

Published on 31 Oct 2013 on YouTube

Thousands of people were evacuated in western Mexico on Wednesday morning after thieves tapping a pipeline run by state oil monopoly Pemex caused a major gasoline leak.

Television footage showed a large column of gasoline shooting skywards near the town of Tlajomulco south of the state capital Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city.

Local authorities ordered the evacuation of 7,500 people after the plumes of gas reached high into the air.

Jalisco's interior minister, Arturo Zamora, says the leak is under control with firefighters and Mexican Petroleum on the scene and that remediation work is underway.

Zamora says personnel from the Attorney General will raise a report for investigation into the incident.

With many residents cleared from the affected areas, authorities in the state of Jalisco reported no casualties from the incident.

Pemex, whose pipelines are frequently the target of attacks by thieves, says it shut down the flow of gasoline as soon as the leak was detected.

Mexico's Energy Ministry reported this month that Pemex has reported fuel thefts worth some $4.7 billion dollars over the past five years.