306
J.E. Conde . G. Rodriguez
exploration, production, refining and marketing, and a guild of companies with more
specialized functions, such as research and development (INTEVEP), maritime transportation (PDV Marina), agroindustry (PALMAVEN), orimulsion marketing (BITOR),
training (CIED), petrochemistry (PEQUIVEN) and many others. Currently PDVSA is
said to be producing 3.2 million barrels of crude per day and have a refming capacity
of 1.8 million barrels per day. The incidence of the oil industry in Venezuela's Gross
National Production is nearly 60%. If the Maracaibo System was to be defined with
just one word, petroleum should be the most obvious choice. Located in the heart of
Venezuela's oil industry, Lake Maracaibo harbours one of the most important oilfields
in South America and also one of the largest in the world. In 1984, there were 8400 active oil rigs, several hundred flux stations and two refineries; all of them connected by
40000 km of pipelines, mostly running underwater (Rodriguez 1984). From 1914, when
the first oil well started its commercial operations, to 1995, roughly 33 000 million barrels (5238 million m 3 ) were extracted in this basin. Most of the oil is drawn out from
the lake's bottom, and exported by means of oil tankers that go through the Strait of
Maracaibo. In 1996,1307 oil tankers went through the Maracaibo Channel.
The huge reserves of light crudes an natural gas in this basin have impelled the establishment of a highly diversified conglomerate of petrochemical industries that cluster in an industrial complex situated by Puerto Miranda, on the eastern shore of EI
Tablazo Bay, under the name "Complejo Petroquimico EI Tablazo". Currently, there are
more than 20 plants in operation, producing a range of compounds from olefins originating from natural gas fetched from several zones of the Lake, which are processed
into plastics, fertilizers and other synthetic organic products. Many of these industries
are joint ventures with foreign and national partners. Due to the nature of the substances processed by the petrochemical industries, the potential for environmental
incidents is high and, thus, their activities are under the surveillance of governmental
agencies, mainly the ICLAM.
In spite of a most extense regulatory umbrella, environmental damages have
springed in sevetal opportunities. At the early stages of EI Tablazo petrochemical complex, a chlorine-soda plant with mercury cells operated. Mercury disposal and its potential as a contaminant agent for aquatic organisms have drawn the attention of environmental organiz
Engineering Works
Oil exports from Lake Maracaibo through the outer bar and the ever-changing shoals
of EI Tablazo Bay and the Strait of Maracaibo are critically dependent on the navigationallink between the lake itself and the Gulf of Venezuela - the gateway to the Caribbean Sea and thus to the Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 16.1). With the advent of huge oil tankers
and an increased world demand for oil and petrochemical products, after World
War II, the natural navigation channel that connected all those areas became insufficient. In 1953, a government agency, The National Institute for Canalizations was created to deal systematically with the widening and deepening of the natural channel
and its maintenance through continuous dredging. Between 1957 and 1960 both the
exterior and interior channels were deepened to a minimum depth of 45 fathoms Rodriguez 1984).
J.E. Conde . G. Rodriguez
exploration, production, refining and marketing, and a guild of companies with more
specialized functions, such as research and development (INTEVEP), maritime transportation (PDV Marina), agroindustry (PALMAVEN), orimulsion marketing (BITOR),
training (CIED), petrochemistry (PEQUIVEN) and many others. Currently PDVSA is
said to be producing 3.2 million barrels of crude per day and have a refming capacity
of 1.8 million barrels per day. The incidence of the oil industry in Venezuela's Gross
National Production is nearly 60%. If the Maracaibo System was to be defined with
just one word, petroleum should be the most obvious choice. Located in the heart of
Venezuela's oil industry, Lake Maracaibo harbours one of the most important oilfields
in South America and also one of the largest in the world. In 1984, there were 8400 active oil rigs, several hundred flux stations and two refineries; all of them connected by
40000 km of pipelines, mostly running underwater (Rodriguez 1984). From 1914, when
the first oil well started its commercial operations, to 1995, roughly 33 000 million barrels (5238 million m 3 ) were extracted in this basin. Most of the oil is drawn out from
the lake's bottom, and exported by means of oil tankers that go through the Strait of
Maracaibo. In 1996,1307 oil tankers went through the Maracaibo Channel.
The huge reserves of light crudes an natural gas in this basin have impelled the establishment of a highly diversified conglomerate of petrochemical industries that cluster in an industrial complex situated by Puerto Miranda, on the eastern shore of EI
Tablazo Bay, under the name "Complejo Petroquimico EI Tablazo". Currently, there are
more than 20 plants in operation, producing a range of compounds from olefins originating from natural gas fetched from several zones of the Lake, which are processed
into plastics, fertilizers and other synthetic organic products. Many of these industries
are joint ventures with foreign and national partners. Due to the nature of the substances processed by the petrochemical industries, the potential for environmental
incidents is high and, thus, their activities are under the surveillance of governmental
agencies, mainly the ICLAM.
In spite of a most extense regulatory umbrella, environmental damages have
springed in sevetal opportunities. At the early stages of EI Tablazo petrochemical complex, a chlorine-soda plant with mercury cells operated. Mercury disposal and its potential as a contaminant agent for aquatic organisms have drawn the attention of environmental organiz
Engineering Works
Oil exports from Lake Maracaibo through the outer bar and the ever-changing shoals
of EI Tablazo Bay and the Strait of Maracaibo are critically dependent on the navigationallink between the lake itself and the Gulf of Venezuela - the gateway to the Caribbean Sea and thus to the Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 16.1). With the advent of huge oil tankers
and an increased world demand for oil and petrochemical products, after World
War II, the natural navigation channel that connected all those areas became insufficient. In 1953, a government agency, The National Institute for Canalizations was created to deal systematically with the widening and deepening of the natural channel
and its maintenance through continuous dredging. Between 1957 and 1960 both the
exterior and interior channels were deepened to a minimum depth of 45 fathoms Rodriguez 1984).