Venezuela's refinery explosion: one for the history books
The films El Revent贸n I and II document the history of oil in Venezuela. Does this weekend's explosion at Venezuela's Amuay refinery call for another sequel?
Firefighters douse a fuel tank at the Amuay refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela, Tuesday, Aug. 28. Officials said Tuesday that all fires have been extinguished at Venezuela's biggest oil refinery after raging for more than three days following a deadly explosion early Saturday.
Ariana Cubillos/AP
鈥� A version of this post ran on the author's blog, . The views expressed are the author's own.
A few days ago, I was privileged to attend a screening of , two documentaries by Venezuelan filmmaker Carlos Oteyza.
Using archival footage from Bol铆var Films, and working off a script that reads like a great history book, Mr. Oteyza sets out to chart the history of oil in our country focusing on two pivotal moments, or 鈥渞eventones.鈥�
The first is the explosion at Los Barrosos No. 2, an oil well that littered the ground with 100,000 barrels per day for nine straight days. Even though Los Barrosos was eventually capped (thanks, in part, to the miraculous intervention of San Benito, according to the film) it served as a clarion call to those seeking to tap Venezuela鈥檚 enormous potential.
The second 鈥渞event贸n,鈥� the one with which he ends the second film, is the nationalization of the oil industry. A watershed moment in contemporary Venezuelan history and a landmark in , the nationalization was the starting point for the current relationship between citizens, government, politicians, and oil.
While I was watching enthralled, I kept thinking we need another sequel, Revent贸n III. Because the next turning point for the industry was undoubtedly the oil strike of 2002, and the subsequent firing of 20,000 of the industry鈥檚 best minds. It was at that precise moment when Hugo Ch谩vez finally took control of the country, and he鈥檚 kept it in his iron grip ever since.
But then, this weekend, El Revent贸n IV happened.
Regardless what hypothesis you may propose as probable cause for the accident at Amuay, there is no denying that 鈥渆vents鈥� at oil refineries should not result in dozens of people killed and millions of dollars in losses 鈥� unless, of course, somebody, somewhere did not do their job.
Even the would require gross negligence on the part of an oil company that is supposed to safeguard the industry from such happenings and have protocols in place to minimize the damage.
It was at this point, August 25th, 2012, when years of using the industry as a cash cow finally caught up with us.
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Instead of a competent industry where damage is minimized, we have a burning inferno. Instead of management seriously pondering the probable causes and taking responsibility, we have to lay the blame somewhere else instead of where it lies. It is quite possible that because as a society we have chosen Mercal, Petrocasas, and cheap gasoline over the safety of our refineries, dozens of Venezuelans are dead.
It, too, marks a before and after in the history of Venezuela鈥檚 oil industry.
鈥� Juan Nagel is a writer for , the place for opposition-leaning-but-not-insane analysis of the Venezuelan political scene since 2002.