Venezuela: PDVSA starts oil refinery construction in China
PDVSA builds an oil refinery in China, state of emergency is declared in the occidental region, and Venezuelans say goodbye to birthday songwriter.
Venezuela starts construction of its first oil refinery in China
A groundbreaking ceremony for the first of three Venezuelan-Chinese oil refineries was celebrated on Friday 27 April in Guandong province, southeast China.
According to a press release from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) – Venezuela’s state owned oil company – the Jie Yang industrial complex construction has called for an investment of US$ 8,300 millions. The refinery will process crude oil exported from the Orinoco river basin, where PDVSA and China National Petroleum Corp have signed exploration and extraction ventures.
Venezuela’s Minister of Energy and PDVSA president, Rafael Ramirez, said that the complex is expected to start production in 2015 and with an estimated processing of 800,000 thousand barrels of oil per day.
PDVSA currently exports around 600,000 barrels of crude oil to China – which reports earnings of US$ 5,000 millions – but is looking to expand its output to 1 million barrels in coming years.
Tachira declares a state of emergency after a week of continuous rain
The Venezuelan Government declared on Friday 27 April a state of emergency in Táchira – a state located on a mountainous area on the western border – where rain and floods have collapsed the road system, affected houses and businesses, and driven dozens of citizens to seek refuge.
The decree will allow for more people and resources to be assigned to work in the reconstruction of the areas affected by the inclement weather. Special attention will be given to the collapsed Trocal 005 water pipe and the Libertador Bridge, which is the main way of access to San Cristobal, the state’s capital.
Protección Civil – an office in charge of the governmental action in cases of emergencies and natural disasters – informed that 50 citizens have been moved into shelters, and around 100 homes are in need of structural repairs. Schools would be close for the duration of the emergency.
However, the authorities’ main concern is to open the roads, so that gas, medicines and provisions can be taken to the cities that have been isolated from the rest of the country by mudslides.
Composer of Venezuela’s popular birthday song dies
On Monday 23 April, Venezuelans bid farewell to Luis Cruz Cordero, musician, guitar player and composer of the popular ‘Ay que noche tan preciosa’, a composition sang on every birthday celebration in conjunction with the universally known ‘Happy Birthday to You’.
Cruz, who was 82 years old, died in the early hours of Sunday 22 April, in hospital located in the city of Cabudare, in Lara state. The news was published first by Fundación Casa del Artista (Venezuela’s House for the Artists) through their Facebook account. No information was given regarding regarding the musician’s health condition before his death.
