MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican state oil company Pemex was on Saturday fighting to quell a fire burning in a gasoline storage tank at the Salina Cruz refinery in the southern Oaxaca state, local media and a Pemex source said, in the latest accident to hit the company.
The fire that started on Friday had been partially controlled by emergency crews, but winds rekindled the blaze on Saturday, an oil company source told Reuters, ruling out damage to other areas of the facility.
The source added that no injuries were reported in the incident.
Television images showed a dense plume of black smoke billowing from inside the refinery.
In August, the Salina Cruz refinery was hit by another fire.
The Oaxaca Civil Protection body reported on its Twitter account that access to the complex was currently restricted by the authorities.
“With the support of the (local government) and (police) the area is being cordoned off to avoid problems,” it said.
Salina Cruz has a capacity to process 330,000 barrels per day of crude oil, according to data from Eikon Refinitiv.
In November, another fire broke out at a Pemex refinery complex in northern Mexico but it was brought under control without any injuries to staff or disruption to production.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Noé Torres; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Franklin Paul)
