Assuming a 400-meter blast radius, what else got damaged?
At this point, we still don’t have a clear picture of how much damage Amuay Refinery suffered overall from last night’s blast. We still don’t know precisely which facilities were damaged, and how extensively. It takes some insider knowledge of the refinery to piece this together, so I’m calling on former PDVSA workers who know Amuay to write in to caracaschronicles@gmail.com and help us out.
There’s a lot of speculation right now about what the accident might mean for gasoline production at CRP, but the Complex is huge, and the most seriously affected area looks like it’s a relatively small part of the whole. So what facilities were closest to the blast site? What are we talking about, exactly?
The picture above, taken from a random guy at NoticieroDigital, offers some clues. The National Guard facility that was devastated by the blast was about 400 meters from the primary blast-site. So assuming a 400 meter blast radius, what else can we reasonably assume were damaged? Mostly storage tanks? Actual Cat-Crackers and other gasoline-making facilities? What, exactly?
(Though, in fact, the houses on Calle 1 in Judibana – about 1 km. northeast of the blast site -site, suffered extensive damage too. Perhaps assuming a 400 meter blast radius is too optimistic.)
Do write in.
Puramin plant got blasted. First hand account from a friend that works there. Also 60+ dead bodies at the hospital. She even saw some coworkers bodies.
The latest: Minister-President Rafael Ramirez indicated that only two tanks are still on fire, but under control. He assured that the refinery is intact and it will resume operations in two days.
An inside source of Maracaibo newspaper La Verdad said something completely different:
http://www.laverdad.com/sucesos/9793-50-de-la-refineria-quedo-devastada.html
Francisco, maybe there was some wind going inlands, that could explain the biggest damage to the right of the image. It should had taken some time to get a big gas-air cloud and if did goes to this side, then the explosion will not be centered on the escape site. The metallic structures should be less damage prone than the masonry ones (round shaped and with lots of space in between by design also helps). Maybe they told the truth, maybe. If not, we will sure know in the next days…
Una Fuga de Gas en una Brida de una esfera de Gas Butano is what I’m getting from sources in Punto Fijo.
Update by VP Jaua: 39 dead, 18 of them of the National Guard.
VP Jaua: An investigation under way by a special task force formed by PDVSA’s PCP division, Intelligence (SEBIN), the Military and the Public Ministry.
Last but not least: The CNE delayed tomorrow’s election drill for a week (Sept. 2nd)
Es que el problema no es solo la explosion, sino la extension de la nube de gas.
Se dice que desde hacia tres dias la gente reportaba el olor; que cantidad de producto escapo, como estaba el viento, era fuerte o debil, hacia que direccion soplaba…?
Estas variables hacen dificil determinar, sin ver in situ, los daños.
So, after all this, how are you going to get workers to enter any refinery, it being reasonable to assume that they’re all subject to implementation of the same maintenance philosophy?
If the propane gas leak has several hours developing, as several people have claimed, it may have been several blasts, ignited by a vehicle driving by with an exposed ignition wire, a spark caused by a light switch being used, etc. This may explain the widespread damage.
Remember that propane (if it was the involved gas) is heavier than air, and it may have been driven by wind and accumulated in low areas before been ignited by a random spark.
There is a similar incident, in the ARC highway near the town of Tejerias, in 28-Sep-1993 when a digging machine broke by mistake a natural gas pipeline and minutes later the gas was ignited and an explosion and fire happened, killing 50 persons, most of them trapped in the traffic due to the repairs.
See http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedia_de_Las_Tejer%C3%ADas
Here is a You Tube video of this gas explosion:
Here is a video taken at Amuay: http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v1/y2/r/5l8_EVv_jyW.swf?v=4499293719584&ev=0
Source:
Monseñor Talleyrand @MonseTalleyrand
¡Impresionante video! RT @LucioQuincioC Video recien recibido►http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v1/y2/r/5l8_EVv_jyW.swf?v=4499293719584&ev=0 …
Another detailed map
http://www.noticiasclic.com/amuay-sigue-ardiendo
Ultimas Noticias has this:
http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/movil/noticia.aspx?idnota=102296
Not exactly related to Map, but a BB message from a Puramin worker who died in the blast, posted by a fellow co-worker: https://twitter.com/krlosmusica/status/239828333712531456/photo/1
Timeline of co-worker with more info: https://twitter.com/krlosmusica
PS: Im not an ex-Pdvsa but now several…
opps meant know
Could we really be sure that is true? And when -if- it was posted? And what does it exactly mean -where was it measured-? (of course 4% H2S is far more than lethal…)
Not all in Internet is real… would you post that in an emergency?
Its difficult to tell, but the post is from a coworker. I checked twitter accounts and there is a Rigoberto Colina Twit account from the area. There is also a facebook entry from another Puramin co-worker: http://www.facebook.com/carlosalfonso.carrasqueroquero/posts/523253131024968
Thanks! Maybe it is real, I’m very cautious as there are so many people trying to get attention… The name should also appear on the lists as deceased if this is true.
Sounds fake to me, to be honest.
It may be in part wrong, as quoting % and not ppm (parts per million), but El Nacional writes something that appears to corroborate the presence of H2S, eye-pain and changing color of silver (alloy-) jewelry (here in ND): http://www.noticierodigital.com/2012/08/el-nacional-relatos-de-amuay-contradicen-lo-dicho-por-el-presidente-chavez/#more-112657
Hope more journalists got some evidence, as the chief inspector looks a little biased…
With wrong I mean the original BBM with high% of methan and H2S, lethal at this level. Maybe he did assume it as a % and didn’t know the measure was ppm. Maybe, took all information as first as only a possible explanation, don’t do like the “chief inspector” do…
La Verdad “confirms” the history: http://www.laverdad.com/images/productos/edicion_impresa/portada.jpg
Ah, yes, if it was ppm, then it makes sense. Methane at 24% and you are dead, I think
Well, it could make sense, H2S smell like rotten eggs, the other gases are odourless, so it could be a signal of a leak (like people said to the journalist) . Over 4.3% it is explosive too. 0.1% is lethal in minutes.
Here two hypothesis are presented regarding the origin of the fire: http://noticiasvenezuela.org/?p=103274
Researching internet, I found that Mercaptan is used as an odorizer in residential distribution systems , so people can detect natural gas (which has no smell) if there is a leak, but I do not know if this is a standard procedure at a refinery such as the CRP complex.
The reason why Mercaptan is used with natural gas is due to a terrible accident that ocurred in Texas in 1937: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion
Guys and gals, I need help. Trying to write a piece, but I have no luck backing a claim from BBC:
“Puede resultar un tanto compleja la comparación con las industrias petroleras en otros países. Pero, por ejemplo, en los últimos años en Venezuela murieron 78 personas en accidentes, cifra levemente inferior a la de Estados Unidos en el mismo período, con la diferencia de que Pdvsa emplea a 100.000 personas y EE.UU. a 2,2 millones.”
The journalist, Juan Paullier, wrote that. I first had assumed it was Jose Toro Hardy. In any case, I cannot find any source confirming those claims. I found an article from the CDC that puts the fatality rate for the US in 30.5 dead per 100000 workers. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5716a3.htm Which is close to the figures that NYT has also: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/05/03/us/death-on-the-job.html?ref=us : Between 03 and 06 there were 404 deaths. If we assume a similar distribution of rates, there is no way that the statement from BBC can be true. “cifra levemente inferior”, no way. Also, the number of oil workers seem to be around 1.3 MM.
If we cross Urru’s database (www.urru.org/papers/2011_varios/CRONOLOGIA_accidentes_pdvsa_2003_a_2011-02-14.pdf) of accidents with the numbers of workers in PDVSA (http://www.pdvsa.com/index.php?tpl=interface.sp/design/readmenuprinc.tpl.html&newsid_temas=26) we actually come with a _lower_ fatality rate for Venezuela.
I am trying to write a solid piece about this, with solid data, but that thing from BBC is not standing up to scrutiny. Numbers might be more complicated, I might be looking at all workers instead of the subset of workers in plants, and they count all the bomberos in gas pumps. I do not know, so I ask fro help.
In any case there was/is a maintenance problem, and there’s responsibility from a govt that claims a victory in fencing is due to them, but a tragedy like this is not their fault.
Check this Twitter account ! https://twitter.com/Merovinggio
An engineeer in guard at CRP plant detected gas leaks on Tuesday 21-Aug, and later on Friday 24-Aug but his reuqets to stop production and to carry an inspection were disregarded !!!
Last but not least, the Puramin plant which was damaged in the blast made dielectric oil used in electric transformers and also oil used in motor vehicles:
http://www.puramin.com/es/
Lets hope that there are others sources for the dilectric oil, because transformers need this oil to be replaced periodically (it gets contaminated with water, main reason for “exploding transformers”).
Guido, I hope this will be of some assistance.
Yup, that was it. Then it becomes much more complex to compare PDVSA with the US oil industry, but the fatality rate in refining seems to be way lower than in drilling.
Thank you!
Guido, as far as I can tell, the CDC article you linked to refers to drilling personnel, not to refining personnel. I will look for data for number of refinery employees.
Thanks a lot, Boludo. I am really out of my knowledge here, but I want to be as factual as possible.
Series Id: ENUUS000105324110
State: U.S. TOTAL
Area: U.S. TOTAL
Industry: NAICS 324110 Petroleum refineries
Owner: Private
Size: All establishment sizes
Type: All Employees
Year Annual
2001 74977
2002 73911
2003 71437
2004 69162
2005 68427
2006 69124
2007 72337
2008 75099
2009 75588
2010 72689
2011 71278 [tentative]
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/dsrv
Guido: “NAICS 324110″ is the BLS code for petroleum refineries.
Suerte.
FWIW, here is the definition for NAICS 324110 [Petroleum Refineries]
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?code=324110&search=2012%20NAICS%20Search
USG databases can be a pain to navigate, but that is more a consequence of the humongous amount of information the USG puts out there.
Guido, one way to compare might be to look at refinery production/capacity in the US versus Venezuela, and come up with comparable figures for deaths/ million BBL s refined/year. We have data for refinery deaths in the US from 2006-2010. Of the 78 PDVSA deaths from 2003-2011 that the BBC articles cites, I wonder if one can find an itemized list to find other refinery deaths among the 78- which does not include the 41(?) killed this weekend.
One problem is that while we have production and capacity figures for the US, I have found only capacity figures for Venezuela. A further question: do we include the heavy oil, which is nonstandard petroleum. May as well include them- won’t make a lot of difference.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pnp_wiup_dcu_nus_w.htm US Refinery production. Around 15 million BBL/day refined, with about 17 million BBL/day capcity.
http://www.eia.gov/cabs/Venezuela/Oil.html Venezuela 1.28 million BBL/day capacity. While it doesn’t include heavy oil in this figure, it has heavy oil refining capacity further down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries#Venezuela See the heavy oil
I went and published the article without that bit of data. I still want to do the comparison.
Here it is:
http://www.panfletonegro.com/v/2012/08/27/5-hechos-sobre-amuay/
Guido:
I went and published the article without that bit of data.
Given the difficulty in sorting out the data cited in the BBC article you quoted, you made a good decision. Get out what you know: the meta-points behind the explosion. Your article did a good job of summing up the meta-points behind the explosion. The 5 points are also a good summary of how PDVSA under Chavista control has operated the last decade. The small picture reflects the big picture.
The BBC article is difficult to sort, especially since there are no links to specify what they are citing. I found this most telling:
But then all that would need to be cross-checked. Not easy. Which is why I never tried to earn any money as a journalist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/movil/noticias/2012/04/120423_venezuela_pdvsa_accidentes_derrames_jp.shtml
I sent him a message asking for clarification, I also sent an info request to Dr. José Toro. No luck yet, but they are busy.
Glad that you liked the article, Boludo.
The BBM message from Rigoberto Colina reached the news today, he and 4 other Puramin co-workres died in the blast, 1 is seriously injured
http://informe21.com/actualidad/historia-sacude-caso-amuay-%E2%80%9Cgas-metano-a-24-nos-estamos-muriendo%E2%80%9D
It looks like it was true, he was only not qualified enough with the instrument to give the correct units. I think there should be a legal process not only for his death, but 48(?) more. Apparently it was nearly 12 hours before the explosion, that the conditions turned bad.
Another article with more details:
http://www.noticierodigital.com/2012/08/la-verdad-el-viernes-a-las-2-de-la-tarde-pdvsa-recomendo-desalojar-puramin-debido-a-los-gases/#more-112965
Last try, two posts were halted as spam? So, you have to search for El País: “Una de las válvulas de la esfera número 206 se había dañado tres días antes. “La mandaron a reparar, pero la fuga continuó”, dice un trabajador de Pdvsa que por temor a ser despedido mantiene su nombre en reserva. “El viernes por la tarde llovió y la humedad contribuyó a que el gas se acumulara en el patio de las esferas””
R. Ramírez said something very, very, similar, that the weather conditions allowed this to happen (as if was something already going on, but not fatal until the weather changed…) Also they said one “esfera” was empty at the time, how comes that?
Here is a photo of the gas blanket taken 40 minutes before the explosion on friday / saturday:
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2012/08/27/revelador-fotos-tomadas-40-minutos-antes-de-la-explosion-de-amuay/
Thanks Moses,
at first you would think, how can this be, gas isn’t invisible? Well, the gas was pressurized, as it leaks it expands and cools the air, water vapor normally present then condenses as in a cloud (the same effect as with dry ice). So actually you don’t see the gas, but his cooling effect on a humid atmosphere.
I hope for a legal process, but now the families had received a new house…
Here is a reprint of the el pais story
http://www.hidrocarburosbolivia.com/iberoamerica-mainmenu-98/venezuela-mainmenu-104/55868-ive-y-cierra-la-valvula-amuay.html
And the note where Ramirez admits the tanks were moved to the barracks area
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87P07220120826?irpc=932
A video with the explosion has been posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sghpwn-BlMo&feature=player_embedded