Image Credit: Danil Shamkin/NurPhoto via Getty Images 
Massive fires broke out Thursday at three different oil facilities in Mexico, including one in the United States controlled by the state-owned Mexican oil company Pemex.
The fires broke out at the crude oil storage facility in Veracruz, Mexico, in the Maya unit (285,000-barrel-a-day) Minatitlan refinery in Veracruz, and in Deer Creek, Texas.
#Russia: A huge Blaze with black smoke clouds at Mexico's largest Oil storage facility in city #Veracruz.
A fire in a pipeline at the facilities of the state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (#Pemex) was reported today by the Civil Protection Secretariat of Veracruz, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/D7XJ9l7rsC— Khurram Zubair (@Khurram__z) February 24, 2023
All told the fires left two workers dead, at least eight injured, and several others missing.
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed the Minatitlan refinery fire has been brought under control, but the Ixhuatlan storage facility had not yet been extinguished.
Three fires broke out on Thursday at different facilities in Mexico and the United States operated by state-owned Mexican oil company Pemex.
Five missing, eight injured.pic.twitter.com/GR1AudZ3bz
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 24, 2023
UPDATE: Multiple fires ROCK state owned Mexican oil refineries in 3 separate locations… pic.twitter.com/BXYoHHgczO
— The American Tribune (@TAmTrib) February 24, 2023
Video 3 Explosión en Pemex: pic.twitter.com/4Mc6v9Ifmo
— Sir M (@ChairosY) February 24, 2023
Huge
& Explosion Reported at Crude Oil Storage Facility in Veracruz, Mexico.#mexico #fire pic.twitter.com/z5VGGb456H
— Gigi (@EdnaAnde5) February 24, 2023
Pemex released two statements Friday addressing the incidents:
Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) extinguished a fire in the area of the bank of heat exchangers of the Combined Maya plant of the Minatitlán Refinery, thanks to operating and fire-fighting personnel who managed to control the outbreak.
Due to this event, there is a record of five injured people who are treated by PEMEX medical services. Likewise, it is reported that there was no interruption in the operation of the plant and there is no record of damage to the refinery facilities.
It is presumed that the possible cause of the fire was the spillage of the product on a hot surface.
PEMEX reiterates its commitment to the safety of the workers that are part of this institution and carries out the root cause analysis of this incident.
Así se ven los 9 mil mdp que se destinaron para @Pemex Veracruz en el Presupuesto de Egresos de este año… seguimos esperando un informe oficial de los accidentes del día de ayer en Minatitlán e Ixhuatlán del Sureste.
¡Las familias de los trabajadores merecen respuestas! pic.twitter.com/rOIk9uSbqO— Indira Rosales (@Indira_rs) February 24, 2023
Statement on the Ixhuatlán refinery:
Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) reports regarding the fire that broke out yesterday in the PM-119 drilling rig that provided maintenance to Cavity Tuzandepetl-331, in the municipality of Ixhuatlán del Sureste, Veracruz:
– In the search activities for missing personnel, two bodies were found, which are being reviewed by the Forensic Medical Service, with prior authorization from the Federal Public Ministry.
– Work continues to locate the three missing workers.
– The two workers who remain hospitalized are stable and treated at the PEMEX Hospital.
PEMEX regrets the human losses, as well as the injuries that affected the health of the workers, and reiterates its commitment to their families.
Actions continue to be carried out to determine the causes that caused the fire in the drilling equipment and the cleaning of the place will begin.
This comes amid a spate of industrial accidents in the U.S. and elsewhere over the last several months, leading some to believe they could be the result of sabotage or neglect.
Three fires accidentally happened at the same time!
1. Storage facility in Veracruz
2. Minatitlan refinery, Veracruz
3. Deer Park, Texas, oil refineryAll facilities are owned by the same company.
Therefore, the odds that this is just a coincidence, is in the millions! pic.twitter.com/iefSTjcIOU
— Paul Kikos
(@PKikos) February 25, 2023
This isn’t the first industrial incident Pemex has suffered in recent years.
From Oil Price:
Pemex facilities have often suffered incidents in recent years. Last November, 19 people – including Pemex workers and civil protection personnel – were injured after a leaking pipeline exploded in Veracruz.
Two months prior to this incident, a gas pipeline run by Pemex exploded in the Mexican state of Tabasco in September, causing a fire and leading to the evacuation of all workers at the Paredón Hydrocarbon Separation Station.
In another major explosion involving Pemex’s assets, a fire broke out at a Pemex oil platform in the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico in August 2021. The fire, which occurred during maintenance, killed five workers and injured another six.