Oil accidents mount in Venezuela - Novice stand-ins blamed for chaos

www.miami.com Posted on Tue, Jan. 21, 2003 BY FRANCES ROBLES frobles@herald.com

CASUALTY OF STRIKE? Oil leaking from a flow control station spreads on the surface of Lake Maracaibo in the western Venezuelan state of Zulia on Jan. 9. GENTE de PETROLEO/AP

CARACAS - Venezuelan workers running the country's oil industry in place of striking employees and managers have caused at least 60 industrial accidents in the past month, including oil spills whose black stains stretch for a mile, local government leaders say.

The increase in spills and accidents is the direct result of blunders by inexperienced people running a dangerous and delicate business, according to striking oil workers, environmentalists and local government officials.

Strike leaders say at least 4,500 barrels of oil have spilled and seven fires have broken out.

Citing damage to its fishing industry and beaches, a city in western Venezuela filed for an injunction last week, asking the court to force the government oil company to cease operations.

Oil company firefighters and loss prevention experts -- who had stayed on the job despite the strike -- joined in afterward, saying work conditions were too hazardous. Although the government denies it, one person allegedly died in a refinery explosion last week.

''They are making terrible mistakes,'' said Clemencia Rodner, president of the Venezuelan Audubon Society. ``Not only are they having many, many problems, but when they have a problem, they don't know how to solve it.''

The accidents are one of the obstacles confronting the Venezuelan government as it faces a debilitating nationwide strike aimed at removing President Hugo Chávez from office. With about 35,000 of its 40,000 oil workers having walked off the job, the government disregards maintenance operations in its zeal to bring production back to normal levels, foreign diplomats monitoring the industry said.

JOINING THE STRIKE

''If we stay with the company, we will be responsible for everything that's happening, and we can't allow it,'' fire department spokesman Omar Moreno said while announcing his department's decision to join the strike at the start of its seventh week. ``There are inexperienced people behind all of this.''

Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., known here as PDVSA, is leading a strike dubbed the ''national civic stoppage,'' called Dec. 2 to force Chávez out of office. The strike has lasted far longer than anyone expected, and has cost the nation at least $4 billion.

While some strikers elsewhere have gone back to work, PDVSA remains devastated. Production, which had been at three million barrels daily, is down to about 600,000, though the government asserts it is nearly double that amount. And each day, more and more of that oil winds up at the bottom of Lake Maracaibo in the western state of Zulia, where tankers load cargo for international shipments.

''Zulia is in a very delicate situation because of the profound improvisation in the petroleum industry,'' Gov. Manuel Rosales said in declaring a state of emergency. ``We have oil slicks on the lake that are 24 to 36 feet long. Some are a mile long.''

Among the mishaps cited by the opposition:

• About 4,000 barrels of oil spilled Jan. 14 from the Carenero distribution plant, destroying nearby mangroves.

• On Dec. 30, the Pilín León tanker spilled 300 barrels of leaded gasoline into the sea.

• On Jan. 7, 300 barrels of oil spilled in Anaco, but the government says it was only 50.

• A Jan. 7 explosion at the Palito refinery seriously injured two workers. The media reported one later died, but the company denied it.

• Two barges have sunk and one crashed at the Tia Juana port.

The Venezuelan government says the accidents have been exaggerated and are within industry norms. But even so, the government also blames sabotage by striking workers and the absence of security and maintenance personnel.

''It's not desirable, but it's within habitual frequency,'' Environment Minister Ana Elisa Osorio told reporters, insisting that there were 29 oil spills the month before the strike. The opposition strikers ``are responsible. It's exactly their sabotage that is responsible for these accidents. These gentlemen didn't think about the implications of abandoning their posts.''

Striking PDVSA managers rebut Osorio by saying the 29 spills in November were minor -- and happened while the company was producing three million barrels a day. The recent spills occurred while the company's output has slowed to a trickle.

A U.S. official monitoring the situation said accidents occurred not so much because of staff incompetence but because PDVSA -- without the staff to do it -- has suspended routine maintenance. For example, another diplomat said, 50 people are working at the San Tomé oil field; it takes 280 to run it.

During a recent presidential address, Chávez displayed photographs of what he said were sabotaged PDVSA systems. His pictures showed yanked wires, but it was not clear who was responsible.

In an interview with El Universal newspaper, Osorio said spills largely occur because pipes sometimes rupture when pumps are turned on after periods of inactivity. But oil industry experts say experienced workers would know that and turn systems back on slowly. Further, the strike-breakers are unfamiliar with emergency contingency plans, experts said, and appear not to know how to shut systems off once a spill begins.

In the Carenero case last week, the spill continued from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., a PDVSA manager said.

''There will be more spills,'' Osorio said. ``The responsibility goes to whoever decided to suspend operations.''

Rodner said environmental damage will result not so much from the oil itself but from outdated, highly toxic chemicals the government uses to sink the oil to the bottom of the lake.

CHAIN OF POISONINGS

''The oil will decompose, get eaten by bacteria and enter the food chain,'' Rodner said. ``It will poison the fish and poison the people who eat the fish. There will be illnesses and cancers. Every creature at the bottom of the lake will die.''

Meanwhile, three Venezuelan oil tanker captains who were stripped of their command last month for participating in the strike appeared in Miami on Monday to accuse their government of beating and threatening tanker crews and replacing them with unqualified Iraqi, Libyan and Cuban nationals.

''Members of the merchant marine have been tortured, threatened, detained and beaten,'' said Miguel Rodríguez, a dismissed PDVSA tanker captain. ``The government calls us pirates. Perhaps we are pirates, but for a good cause -- rescuing Venezuela.''

The Venezuelan ambassador to Washington said the claims were lies.

''That never happened. It's totally false. There was no violations of human rights and these Iraqis and Libyans are not operating our boats,'' said Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez.

Herald staff writer Richard Brand contributed to this report.