Venezuela cracks down on PdV dissidents

Venezuela's security services are cracking down on oil industry dissidents in a bid to plug information leaks about state-owned PdV's deteriorated operations and dangerous working conditions.

In Puerto La Cruz yesterday, military intelligence (DGCIM) officials arrested Eudis Girot, executive director of the national federation of oil unions (FUTPV) and a longtime critic of corruption and mismanagement within PdV.

Girot has tweeted extensively this year about PdV's numerous failed attempts to restart gasoline production at the 940,000 b/d CRP refining complex in Falcon state.

He was also among the whistleblowers that exposed the precarious state of PdV's floating oil storage vessel Nabarima that the company is currently offloading in a tightly guarded operation.

In a separate incident, Guillermo Zarraga, a retired PdV refinery worker and regional oil union official, was arrested on 14 November in Falcon state capital Coro by agents of the Sebin national intelligence service in a pre-dawn raid of his home.

Sebin has accused Zarraga of terrorism related to a 27 October explosion that destroyed a 120,000 b/d crude distillation unit at the 635,000 b/d Amuay refinery.

Amuay and the 305,000 b/d Cardon refinery form the CRP complex on the strategic Paraguana peninsula in western Venezuela.

Sebin also is investigating Zarraga for allegedly leaking internal information about the CRP, an accusation that his colleagues deny.

Data on Venezuelan crude production and refinery operations regularly leaks out through a variety of industry sources from inside PdV and the wider oil and gas industry in the Opec country. Some PdV workers are motivated to share sensitive information in an effort to draw attention to what they see as grave industrial safety risks and shoestring labor conditions.

President Nicolas Maduro and oil minister Tareck al Aissami blame the Amuay blast on a drone-fired missile, an accusation that PdV refinery workers say is baseless. The workers have told Argus that water leaking into the unit caused a massive steam explosion. The catastrophic incident was a major setback for PdV in its effort to replenish gasoline supplies.

The arresting DGCIM and Sebin officials wore balaclavas hiding their faces and forcibly removed Girot and Zarraga from their homes without showing arrest warrants signed by judges or government prosecutors, according to their relatives.

Their present whereabouts are unknown, according to family members and other senior oil union officials who have gone into hiding.

"We have no idea where Girot and Zarraga are being held, but we expect more arrests are imminent because the government wants to silence critics who are telling the truth about the collapse of PdV's refineries and oil field operations," one of the senior oil union officials said.

Sebin reports nominally to the interior ministry, and DGCIM is the defense ministry's military intelligence arm.

Senior Sebin and DGCIM officials in Caracas declined Argus requests for more information on the arrests and the whereabouts of the two union officials.

The Maduro government, which is a target of extensive US sanctions, has been cited by the UN for systematic and widespread human rights violations. In a 16 September report, a UN independent international fact-finding mission on Venezuela uncovered evidence of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture.

This week's arrests coincide with internal oil ministry and PdV reports indicating that recent imports of Iranian gasoline have been exhausted, leaving the operationally fragile Cardon refinery as Venezuela's sole gasoline supplier.

Cardon is currently producing just under 50,000 b/d of gasoline under difficult operating conditions, a CRP manager said.

"We don't know if Cardon can sustain this level of gasoline production but we're certain there will be more unit breakdowns if we try to raise production over 50,000 b/d," the manager said.