Two workers died and 13 people were hospitalized this Thursday afternoon after an acid gas leak was recorded at the plant that Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has in Texas, in the town of Deer Park, according to the company itself. a statement. This Friday, during the morning conference, the director of the oil company, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, confirmed that none of the victims or the affected people are Mexican nationals and that the two deceased workers are employees of a maintenance company subcontracted by Pemex.
Although the authorities of this city and adjacent Pasadena initially asked citizens to remain confined in their homes, with the windows and doors closed, waiting to verify the toxicity of the spill, at eight-thirty in the afternoon They ruled out the presence of chemicals harmful to health and lifted the order. “We are aware of the bad smell, but it does not pose any danger to the community. Thank you for your patience,” the city government has declared from its official X account.
📌 IMPORTANT NOTICE.
After the unfortunate incident recorded this afternoon at the Pemex plant, in #DeerParkTexas, the @SRE_mx informs that the consul general of @ConsulMexHouMaría Elena Orantes López, immediately contacted refinery officials and authorities…
— Foreign Affairs (@SRE_mx) October 11, 2024
The Mexican Consulate has already contacted the refinery workers and the municipal authorities to provide the necessary support, and Pemex has announced the start of an investigation to find out the causes of the accident and reactivate activity at the facilities, paralyzed since that the leak was reported after four-thirty in the afternoon. Rodríguez Padilla assured this Friday that there are no major effects and that the complex is working at a minimum.
The plant that the state oil company has in Deer Park is one of the most important for the country since Pemex bought in 2021 the part of the facilities that were owned by the Anglo-Dutch Shell. In these three years it has become the heart of the company’s refining system, which in 2023 processed an average of 270,000 barrels per day of oil and 232,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Despite its level of production, more than 80% remains in the neighboring country to be marketed there. Last year, this refinery reported profits worth $711 million, slightly less than the $954 million in the previous period.
The objective of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who made this acquisition – at a cost of 600 million dollars – the symbol of national sovereignty, is that in the long term it allows the country to be self-sufficient and dispense with the purchase of fuel in the foreigner. This dream is far away at the moment, given that the majority of what the refinery generates remains in the United States today.
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