Citgo Refinery: Four Workers Burned

http://www.caller.com/news/2008/feb/23/4-workers-hurt-at-citgo-plant/

Citgo Petroleum, subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, a Venezuelan owned company in the U.S. has been mired with an onslaught of problems over the past two years regarding OSHA health and safety violations with it's failure to properly protect workers at all three of it's fuel refineries located throughout the United States.

• Corpus Christi, Texas Refinery

This recent incident at it's Corpus Christi, Texas refinery underscores the fact that OSHA fines and penalties alone will not prevent future injuries or even worse fatalities. Maybe an upper management of change in conjunction with it's the corporate philosophy will provide workers with the protection that is needed.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Hot crude oil burned four Repcon Inc. contractors working at Citgo's east plant crude and vacuum unit between Nueces Bay and Buddy Lawrence Drive about 10:40 a.m. Friday.

Repcon, Inc is a turnaround contractor with offices and clients located throughout the Gulf Coast with a history of numerous safety awards. Most recently back in June 2007, the company was admitted into OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) Mobile Workforce Star Demonstration Program. Additionally, it was awarded by the National Petroleum and Refiners Association's for Meritorious Safety Performance - 0.0 for 89,803 hours worked at the Corpus Christi Refinery of CITGO Petroleum Corporation back in 2005.

• Lake Charles, Louisiana Refinery

Ironically, a week ago it was reported that OSHA issued a whopping 15 citations a short distance across the Texas border at the Citgo Lake Charles, Louisiana refinery with three citations alleging willful failure to follow federal safety requirements and 12 citations alleging serious violations.

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) - Federal safety investigators have proposed $169,000 in fines against Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s refinery in Lake Charles on allegations of failing to protect employees from hazardous working conditions.

The OSHA federal violations that occurred between August-December 2007 are compounded by the fact that the Citgo Lakes Charles Refinery let go between 500-700 contract workers strangely coinciding with the culmination of the OSHA investigation. So now all the preventive and corrective maintenance is solely undertaken by the limited resources of the plant's 150 full-time maintenance workers.

HOUSTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Citgo Petroleum Corp cut more than 500 contract maintenance workers in late December at its Louisiana refinery as part of a program to increase returns to corporate parent Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, according to sources familiar with the company's refinery operations.

• Lemont, Illinois Refinery
  

Dissecting the timeline even further which includes it's Midwestern refinery, Citgo several weeks ago agreed to pay fines concerning workplace conditions at the Lemont, Illinois refinery where OSHA found multiple violations of federal workplace safety .

CITGO has agreed to pay $155,250 in fines and already has taken corrective action to eliminate unsafe working conditions.

• Contract Workers
  

No amount of OSHA fines will ensure that a worker returns home safely to his family. It's especially difficult for contractors who are not Citgo refinery workers but outsiders working at the plant. This is where a big part of the problem arises especially if one is employed by a contractor. With limited resources, OSHA is not able to scrutinize contractors like it does with a major refinery like Citgo.

A majority of the injuries and fatalities that occur at refineries on the Gulf Coast plague contract workers in contrast to the higher paid and and highly sought after hourly full-time refinery workers. In this regard and in all fairness to Citgo these problems are not isolated to only one company but the entire breadth of the industry.

For example, from first hand experience working for a contractor, it is quite common if one says anything concerning health and safety you will be immediately replaced with another warm body eager body to step up to the plate. This is just a fact of life and hard to comprehend by anyone who works a regular 9-5 -40 hour/week job. In contrast, refineries operate around the clock 365 days year and any downtime adversely effects production. The product has to keep moving constantly.

• Additional Federal Violations
  

In addition to violations of federal laws concerning worker health and safety, Citgo was found guilty on June 2007 in violations of the Clean Air Act at it's Corpus Christi Refinery. Since delisting with the Security Exchange Commission back in 2006, Citgo Petroleum has been plagued with problems in addition to the ongoing friction that the lone shareholder, Venezuela president Hugo Chavez has had with the Bush administration.

• The Future

Citgo Petroleum appears to be besieged with a myriad of problems in the United States in conjunction with the the Exxon victory in the U.S. court ordered freeze of $12 billion assets of it's Venezuelan parent company PDVSA. To exacerbate this, the interim balance sheet of 2007 shows a loss of 6.7 billion dollars in Citgo sales.

Since selling it's Lyondell-Citgo refinery in Houston, Texas and expiration of the contract with Southland's 7 Eleven gas station chain, Citgo refinery production fell 20% to 1.33 million bpd.

It's no wonder that that the company is hemorrhaging with an overwhelming amount of federal violations as not being able to keep up with it's obligatory regulatory obligations. So now the human resources whether it be contract workers or full-time refinery employees of the corporate structure is at grave risk concerning health and safety in the aftermath.

Photo Credit
by EKavet