"Terrorists" set fire to power plant in Venezuela, widespread blackouts, oil production threatened

RT
Wed, 27 Mar 2019 03:04 UTC

© Twitter / jorgerpsuv

Images of burned-out electricity generation equipment at Venezuela's biggest hydroelectric power plant were posted by the country's communications minister on Twitter, as Caracas blamed arsonists for a crippling power blackout.

A large-scale blackout hit Caracas and nearly a dozen Venezuelan states on Monday afternoon, bringing public transport to a near-standstill. People attempted to cram into overcrowded buses to get home before dusk, as the subway system was also disrupted by the outage.

The blackout was reminiscent of the outage that affected over 30 million citizens on March 7 and saw the Latin American country plunged into darkness.

The Venezuelan government's Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez posted a series of photos showing the debilitating impact the blaze that he claimed had caused the outage had on the transmission equipment inside the Guri hydroelectric plant. Rodriguez said that "criminals" set fire to the installations inside the plant, which is Venezuela's largest source of hydroelectric power, at 9:50pm on Monday.

One of the photos shows the electricity generation yard engulfed by flames.

Rodriguez said that firefighters were battling the blaze throughout the night and finally managed to put out the fire at 8:45am on Tuesday.

Photos depict badly scorched remnants of the transmission routes affected by the inferno.

"Criminals generated a fire in the 765 KVA yard of Guri, with malicious intent to damage the generation and transmission of the load," he tweeted. The minister said the "terrorists" succeeded, ultimately causing a blackout.

Rodriquez called the alleged arson an "assault on the whole people" of Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro issued a statement, blaming unidentified "criminals" for the fire at the plant that has affected three autotransformers and transmission lines.

Maduro ordered a 24-hour suspension of all work and education on Wednesday, so the government could fix the energy supply.

The Venezuelan president accused home-grown perpetrators and their masters in Washington for carrying out the alleged attack.

"An event of this nature had never taken place in the history of Venezuelan electricity system, and it shows clearly the absence of limits of these terrorists protected by their warmongering domes that make up the military, financial and media network of supremacists," Maduro stated.

Comment: Julianne Geiger at OilPrice.com reports on the effects it could have on oil production:

Venezuela's Oil Production In Jeopardy After New Blackout

Venezuela is once again finding itself in the dark in another massive power outage, weighing further on the South American country that is struggling to maintain its oil output and oil exports amid US sanctions.

Venezuela, in dire need of its oil revenues that are withering on the vine, may be home to the world's largest oil reserves, but the Maduro government is likely finding that fact of little consolation these days.

The most recent blackout marks the second such widespread blacking in less than a month and even reached the capital city and covering more than half of Venezuela's 23 states, according to Time, who was citing social media outlets.

Just two weeks ago, Venezuela suffered a catastrophic blackout that jeopardized the country's oil production and exports, shutting down its main oil export terminal and its heavy crude processing complex in Jose. These operations affected its minority partners in the projects as well, including Chevron, Rosneft, Total, and Equinor, in what was thought to take offline as much as 450,000 bpd.

This time around, Venezuela's oil operations once again could be further jeopardized, although the Maduro government is claiming that many areas have since had power restored.

While Maduro points the finger once again at the United States for causing the outage, the White House has denied responsibility. Tensions between the two nations are high as the United States continues to crack down on sanctions, and Venezuela's oil exports to the United States hit zero a couple weeks ago.

Tensions between the United States and Russia over Venezuela are also increasing, escalating over the weekend when two Russian planes with 100 troops landed in Venezuela, according to Reuters. The United States was quick to condemn what it felt was an encroachment in South America, while Russia downplayed the incident, hinting that it had routine military contracts to fulfill at the time.

This week's blackout will no doubt impact oil production and exports further, with OPEC likely using the production loss as a win in its drive to lower global oil inventories to see higher prices.

It's notable that not long after Russia delivered the military equipment to Venezuela, potentially thwarting US threats of military action, yet another heinous act of terrorism is committed: Russia gives US a red line in Venezuela then pulls a Syria: S-300 missile batteries now up and active near Caracas

See also:

• More US sanctions won't make Russia reverse stance on Venezuela - Zakharova
• Analysis: Success of Venezuela regime change policy depends on 'credibility of US imperial blackmail'
• Trump regime's electricity war in Venezuela more serious than first believed
• Trump betrays MAGA over Venezuela

And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?