CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A fire broke out early Saturday at Venezuela's 180,000-barrel-a-day Puerto La Cruz oil refinery but has been brought under control. There were no injuries, the state oil company said.
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said in a statement that the incident would not cause any supply disruptions because inventory levels were sufficient.
PDVSA said officials are trying to determine the cause of the fire, which broke out in the refinery's alkylation unit.
The Puerto la Cruz refinery exports some of its production, but mainly supplies gasoline and other products for Venezuela's east. PDVSA said those activities were continuing normally.
PDVSA has suffered repeatedly from accidents and mishaps at its facilities in recent years, drawing criticism of lax safety procedures from Venezuela's head of health and safety.
There were at least two fires and one accident, including one that killed a person and injured four, last year at the Paraguana refining complex, Venezuela's largest.
The Puerto La Cruz refinery also was shutdown or partially shutdown at least twice in 2005, once for a power failure.
Venezuela is the world's eighth-largest oil exporter and was the fourth-biggest supplier of crude to the United States last year.
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