Oil Minister: Amuay is to resume operations in two days

Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela's Minister of Petroleum and Mining informs that a scheduled downtime has been made in the Amuay refinery after the accident that occurred on Saturday early morning and that operations will surely resume within two days.

"We are capable of resuming operations in two days time," the minister and also President of state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) pledged.

He urged the population to avoid nervous purchases of fuel because there is no risk of fuel shortage. "There are enough hydrocarbons in the country to supply the local market," he remarked.

Ramirez also notified that the authorities keep working to secure the area until they manage to completely extinguish the fire.

The explosion of two propane-butane gas tanks in the Amuay refinery, in the Paraguaná Refining Complex, was the cause of the fire occurred approximately at 1:11 a.m. on Saturday, as reported by local authorities.