A Houston-area refinery owned by Petróleos Mexicanos has resumed operations after an Oct. 10 chemical leak led to the deaths of two contract employees and 13 hospitalizations.
The Mexican state-owned oil company, known as Pemex, issued a follow-up statement later in the evening of Oct. 10 saying the gas leak had been fully controlled and the site was declared safe to resume activities.
The company said the refinery was operating steadily at low load over the weekend while inspections were underway.
At 4:40 p.m. CT an gas leak was reported in one of the processing units of the Deer Park refinery, the company said. The chemicals released include hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Shortly after, the company said it notified authorities, shut down its coking and hydrotreatment units and began safety venting,
Pemex said it’s cooperating with investigators, which includes the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Following the accident, CSB Chair Steve Owens issued a statement saying this was a serious incident that “put the surrounding community at risk.”
Pemex said it will report on the findings of internal and external investigations and any necessary corrective actions.
The company said it couldn’t provide detailed information on the workers because they were contractors.
Bloomberg news noted that Pemex has a history of safety issues. The company had nine worker fatalities in 2022, Bloomberg reported. There were 12 the year before, including five people killed in an offshore platform accident.
The company’s safety record was so spotty that investors considered unloading their holdings last year, Bloomberg noted.
One of the company’s deadliest incidents occurred in January 2019 near Mexico City. A fuel theft attempt caused an explosion in a Pemex pipeline that left 137 people dead.
