A gas leak at Pemex’s refinery in Texas claimed the lives of two workers and hospitalized 13 more, the state oil company’s CEO said Friday.
Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, the newly appointed Pemex boss, told President Claudia Sheinbaum’s press conference that a hydrogen sulfide leak occurred Thursday at the Deer Park refinery near Houston.
“It’s completely harmful to [human] health,” he said, noting that a total of 35 people — excluding the deceased — were affected.
According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, hydrogen sulfide “is a colorless gas known for its pungent ‘rotten egg’ odor at low concentrations.”
“It is extremely flammable and highly toxic,” the agency says on its website, noting that the gas is used in a number of industries including oil refining and mining.
Rodríguez told reporters that the hospitalized refinery workers are in “good health,” but will remain under medical care for 24 hours as a precaution.
The Pemex CEO said that the bodies of the two deceased workers couldn’t be recovered until Friday morning because the part of the refinery where they died remained contaminated “for some hours.”
“After the gas dissipated we were able to go into the area. … Those who died aren’t Pemex workers,” he said, explaining that they worked for a maintenance company that provides an “external service” to the refinery.
Pemex said in a statement on Thursday that the gas leak occurred at 4:40 p.m. on Thursday in one of the refinery’s processing units.
“Emergency protocols were immediately activated,” the state company said, adding that local authorities were notified of the leak.
The City of Deer Park issued a shelter in place order to residents at 7 p.m. Thursday that was lifted at 9:30 p.m.
“The lift was issued due to air monitoring reports from Harris County Pollution Control … that have revealed no hazardous pollutants within the community,” the City of Deer Park said in a press release.
Rodríguez said that investigations are being carried out to determine the cause of the hydrogen sulfide leak.
“We can’t speculate about the reasons for what happened,” he said.
Pemex acquired full control of the Deer Park refinery in 2021 after buying Shell’s 50% share in the facility for US $600 million.
Rodríguez said that the refinery was only operating at a minimal capacity after Thursday’s accident, but indicated that it was expected to ramp up production soon.
Accidents at Pemex’s refineries in Mexico are fairly common. Just last month, two workers died and another suffered burns in an explosion and fire at the company’s refinery in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.
In February, four Pemex workers were hospitalized after sustaining injuries in an incident at the company’s refinery near Tula, Hidalgo.
With reports from López-Doriga Digital
