MEXICO CITY — The two victims of a chemical leak at the Deer Park refinery in Texas have been recovered and an investigation into what may have caused the deadly incident launched, the top executive of Mexican national oil company Pemex said on Friday.
Pemex owns and operates the 312,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery located near Houston.
Up to 35 people at the facility were provided medical treatment at the plant or taken to area hospitals for exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas, local Texas officials said on Thursday.
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Speaking at a morning press conference on Friday, Pemex Chief Executive Officer Victor Rodriguez said the two fatalities were not employees of the state-owned company but did not disclose the contractor that employed them.
“The deceased are not Pemex workers, nor are any of those affected,” said Rodriguez, who noted it remains unclear what caused the chemical release.
The new chief executive, who took over earlier this month, added that three or four plants were shut at the refinery, which previously was operated by oil major Shell.
Energy Minister Luz Elena Gonzalez told reporters at the same press conference that the refinery should be back to normal operations later in the day.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle)
