[4] In 1945, the national government authorized the transnational companies Creole Petroleum Corporation and Shell de Venezuela to build two oil refineries nearPunto Fijo, which was decisive for the rise of this city.

[2] The Bajo Grande Refinery, built in 1956 by Richmond (now Chevron), has the capacity to refine 16 thousand barrels per day (2,500 m3/d).

[4] In 1997, a joint venture of BOC and Foster Wheeler built a 50 million cubic feet per day (1.4×10^6 m3/d) hydrogen production facility next to the Amuay refinery.

[11] On 25 August 2012 at 01:11 (05:41 GMT), an explosion caused by the ignition of a leaking gas at the Amuay refinery killed 48 people, primarily National Guard troops stationed at the plant, and injured 151 others.

[15] He also ordered a probe into the cause of the fire and told his cabinet by telephone that "[this] affects us all, the great Venezuelan family, civilian and military.

"[16] According to PDVSA Vice-President Eulogio Del Pino a leak of propane and butane gas was detected an hour before the blast.

[22] Pricing of gasoline futures in the United States increased by 3.15% due to the incident and threat of Hurricane Isaac.

[20] Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski criticized PDVSA management for their poor safety record and forwarded lack of maintenance as a cause of the accident.

[24] He recalled that the union has complained since 2011 about problems with damaged equipment, lack of spare parts and other unsafe conditions.