A spill in a PDVSA pipeline affects drinking water

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Venezuelan PDVSA confirmed on Monday the fact of a spill in the country’s Anzoategui State that has affected drinking water across a 50-kilometer radius.

Anzoategui State is famous for its beautiful coastline and a 100-kilometer-long beach, as well as a highly developed fishing and tourism industry, which is often in conflict with its main revenue stream, oil.

The leak in the PDVSA pipeline is believed to happen on November 1, letting 25,000 barrels of oil spill into the waters, according to opposition lawmaker Jose Brito. The spill was discovered only today.

Brito is sure that the leak became a result of poor maintenance of the 90-cm pipeline. He also added that security forces were preventing free access to the area.

"Clean-up crews have been on site since 2 November, barriers were deployed in the Uribi River to stop the crude and most of the spilled oil already has been removed from the river," according to an official from PDVSA.

It is not the first spill occurring on PDVSA pipelines. The previous one happened near the end of August involving an explosion at the Amuay refinery that killed 42 people and injured 132 more.