Venezuelan Oil Minister Accuses US, Opposition Of Explosions At Petro San Felix Facility

Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, who also heads the state-owned PDVSA energy company, has accused the United States and the Venezuelan opposition of organizing explosions at the Petro San Felix facility

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2019) Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, who also heads the state-owned PDVSA energy company, has accused the United States and the Venezuelan opposition of organizing explosions at the Petro San Felix facility.

On Wednesday, media reported that two storage tanks exploded at the Petro San Felix heavy-crude upgrading project in eastern Venezuela.

"[US Republican Senator] Marco Rubio ordered on March 13 to organize more violence in Venezuela. Rightist [forces] and their puppet [self-proclaimed interim president Juan] Guaido have intensified terrorist raids against PDVSA. They attacked the storage tanks at Petro San Felix to affect oil production," Quevedo said on Twitter.

Pitaz news portal previously reported citing one of the plant employees that no one was injured as a result of the explosion, since there was no personnel at the facility.

According to him, the plant's management stopped its work on Sunday due to the absence of a diluent for oil.

Petro San Felix is a company engaged in improving the quality of heavy Venezuelan oil with a capacity of up to 160,000 barrels per day in the area of the Orinoco River.

Last week, a massive blackout swept many Venezuela's states, crippling the country's power grid. The national electricity supplier Corpoelec insisted that the power cut was the result of sabotage at the major Guri hydroelectric power plant in eastern Bolivar state. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pinned the blame for the crisis on the United States. As of now, power supply has been fully restored in the country.