Venezuela gas pipeline rupture slashes production

Venezuelan state-owned PdV has shut in about a fifth of its natural gas production because of a 20 March pipeline rupture that forced the closure of the Pigap 2 high-pressure compression complex.

The complex shut down after the pipeline ruptured, disrupting up to 560mn cf/d of gas production from the mature Furrial and Quiriquire fields in the eastern state of Monagas. The closure also impacts crude production in the eastern fields where the gas is re-injected.

The incident took down about 19pc of PdV's current total gas production of some 3bn cf/d, according to a senior official with PdV gas subsidiary PdV Gas. Most of PdV's gas production is already flared.

Repairs could take up to six weeks, according to a PdV incident report.

A PdV upstream manager in Monagas and two oil union officials working in the Furrial area blamed pipeline corrosion and years of insufficient maintenance.

A corroded section of the line cracked as PdV was attempting to increase the volume of gas transported from Furrial to Pigap 2 where it would be compressed for re-injection, the company manager said.

The explosion sparked a fire that blazed for over an hour until PdV shut down gas flows through the pipeline.

Pigap 2 was built by Williams International and commissioned in 2001. Late former president Hugo Chavez expropriated Pigap 2 in mid-2009.

Venezuela's oil ministry blamed a terrorist attack, an allegation routinely made by the government to explain frequent oil industry breakdowns.