An oil rig exploded in Venezuela's eastern state of Monagas on Friday and burned for most of the day, a state oil company official told Reuters on Saturday. The incident comes as Venezuela is struggling to acquire enough rigs to meet planned production increases and has suffered oilfield accidents amid reports that oil output has slumped.
"A rig exploded on Friday," said an official from state oil company PDVSA, who asked not to be identified. Venezuela has entered numerous joint ventures with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) as part of President Hugo Chavez's effort to boost sales to China while reducing Venezuela's traditional dependence on US energy markets.
The local El Universal newspaper reported that the explosion occurred early Friday morning and that the fire continued late into the afternoon. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters late on Friday: "I don't have information about that, I believe we had a problem in an (oil) well."