Oil rig explosion in Venezuela leaves at least 17 workers injured, sources say

CARACAS, June 29 – An explosion at a rig operated by state-run oil company PDVSA in Venezuela’s Los Llanos central region left at least 17 workers injured late on Sunday, including two with severe burns, three sources said on Monday.

The accident occurred at PDVSA’s Colven 02 rig in Apure state. Some of the injured workers were transported to Colombia for medical assistance, and others to the nearby town of Guasdualito, according to the sources, videos and photos on social media, which showed tall, yellow flames and a plume of black smoke.

Incidents are frequent at PDVSA’s aging infrastructure, including fires and outages impacting oil production and refining operations. A similar explosion at a gas processing plant in Lake Maracaibo killed a worker last month.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. The company is trying to restart some operations affected by two deadly earthquakes last week, including its smallest refinery, the 146,000-barrel-per-day El Palito in central Carabobo state. REUTERS