Caracas
Oil has washed up to Venezuela’s west coast after a leak in a pipeline that takes crude to the country’s main refinery, national oil company PDVSA said on Saturday.
The spill has spread over more than 13 kilometers (eight miles) according to the environmental commission of the opposition-majority national parliament.
Venezuela suffers fuel shortages despite having the largest proven oil reserves in the world with only a limited number of its refineries currently operating. PDVSA says it has carried out “sanitization” work in the affected area off the northwestern state of Falcon after the leak was located.
The company added that the state’s Paraguana refinery, which has a capacity of 950,000 barrels per day, was not affected. Both environmental groups and the opposition said a spill had occured near Falcon.—APP
