"Event" affects Venezuela refinery

[cal04]

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on Saturday said an "operational event" had affected a unit of the 640,000 barrel per day (bpd) Amuay refinery.

A Venezuelan newspaper on Saturday reported there had been an explosion at the facility.

(snip)
The nationally circulating El Nacional newspaper on Saturday reported an explosion at Amuay and blackouts in the neighbouring towns, citing witnesses in the area.

The statement did not define the operational event and did not confirm whether or not it had been an explosion. The unit was in startup, PDVSA said, following a maintenance stoppage announced in September.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1751552006

[Skink]

1. could it be.....

Sabotage.

[IndianaGreen]

2. with Chavez leading in the polls for the Dec 3 elections

anything is possible. The last thing Mister Danger wants is to see Chavez elected to a third term.

[IntravenousDemilo]

3. Maybe time just seems to pass more quickly as I get older, but...

...didn't Venezuela just have an election not too long ago? How often do they hold them, anyway?

[IndianaGreen]

4. The American-funded opposition forced a recall election

which they lost by a wide margin.

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. So this is the normally scheduled one, then? n/m

[IndianaGreen]

6. Yes n/t

:-)

[mithnanthy]

11. could it be...

SATAN?

[davidinalameda]

7. it's a plot

:sarcasm:

[w4rma]

10. If someone planted a bomb then of course it was. (nt)

[ronnie624]

12. What???

A plot???

The CIA would never plant bombs! It is a benign, peaceful organization, created exclusively for gathering intelligence, not waging covert wars against leftist and popular political movements throughout the world!

Where is your tinfoil hat?

:sarcasm:

[aquart]

8. Uh huh. Tell the CIA to come home now.

[billbuckhead]

9. No, it's a message

From the new SecDef