<article><p><i>Updates throughout.</i></p><p class="lead">Venezuelan state-owned oil company PdV said it has contained an oil spill in Anzoategui state caused by a "rupture" in a pipeline that transports crude from the Orinoco heavy oil belt to blending and upgrading units at the company's Jose complex.</p><p>The crippled 36-inch pipeline carries extra heavy crude diluted with naphtha from the Orinoco oil belt´s Cabrutica district, near PdV´s PetroAnzoategui, PetroCedeño and PetroPiar extra heavy crude operations. </p><p>It is not clear if roughly 300,000 b/d of combined production from the three projects has been affected, but storage in the area is limited. </p><p>The projects feature hundreds of low-yield wells. The diluted crude oil is transported to upgraders in Jose to produce synthetic crude for export.</p><p>A PdV eastern division official in Anzoategui said the rupture apparently happened overnight on 1 November when electronic monitors reported a sharp drop in pressure in a section near Santa Clara, a small town on a stream that flows into the Pao River.</p><p>Less than 3,000 bl of heavy crude spilled into the small Uribi River, the PdV official said. </p><p>Another local industry official pegs the spill at around 25,000 bl. One opposition lawmaker from the remote area claims 100,000 bl was lost.</p><p>The rupture "appears to have been caused by structural failures resulting from a maintenance issue," the official said, adding that the incident is still under investigation. Sabotage, which the government frequently blames for industrial accidents, has been ruled out "for now." </p><p>"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," the PdV official said.</p><p>In a statement issued this afternoon, PdV said it is "executing a structured action through eight control points from Santa Clara to Atapirire in a radius of over 50km inside which specialized personnel have been activated. Simultaneously, PdV deployed an operation to attend all affected communities in the municipalities of Francisco de Miranda and Jose Gregorio Monagas."</p></article>
