Venezuela Vehicle Fires: Quality of Fuel Sparking Concerns and Controversy

In recent days, social networks in Venezuela have been full of videos showing vehicles catching fire on their own, and while experts and consumers believe that the reason is related to the quality of fuel, the government body responsible for the oil sector denies this and defends itself.

“It all happened very quickly. Thank God we survived,” said Jose Faria, 42, as he lay on his bed with bandages covering almost his entire face and arms. His taxi suddenly caught fire in Maracaibo (northwest) and was nothing but charred metal sheets.

Faria adds: “The people who were present were frightened. They tried to help us, but we didn’t have a fire extinguisher, sand or water.”

He recounts that he was with his wife Lydie in the car when he heard a noise in the back seat. After he got out of the car to try to find the source of the sound, an explosion occurred in the vehicle, followed by a fire.

Faria suffered second-degree burns, while lighter burns affected his wife’s right forearm.

“We lost our livelihood, but we thank God we survived,” says Jose, with clear signs of trauma.

Similar incidents have increased in recent weeks in Venezuela. Fire service personnel receive about four calls per day reporting a sudden fire of vehicles, according to sources, who preferred to keep their identity confidential for fear of reprisals.

Burnt car body

Doubts about the quality of gasoline

Although Petroleos de Venezuela denied that these fires were caused by the poor quality of gasoline distributed in Maracaibo, experts are skeptical.

Hugo Hernandez, former CEO of Venezuela’s national oil company, told AFP, to “record malfunctions in the refineries” of the Paraguana refining complex “which are responsible for processing, refining and distributing fuels in the state of Zulia (its capital is Maracaibo)”.

Specialists in the field unanimously agree that the distributed gasoline, due to a shortage of solvents, becomes corrosive as it contains high amounts of sulfur, which negatively affects the petrol pumps in cars, and increases the risk of fire.

The region, which was the former oil capital of Venezuela, has been suffering from a continuous shortage of fuel for more than 10 years, exacerbated by the smuggling of these materials.

The authorities were subsidizing gasoline so much that it was almost free until 2020, which encouraged smuggling to Colombia. But in 2019, the price of one egg in stores is equivalent to 90 million liters of petrol!

Over the past two weeks, mechanic Ibsen Chasen, 52, has repaired 25 cars whose fuel pumps had failed.

Maria Urdaneta, 47, had to change the petrol pump on her pickup truck seven times in three weeks. “We live in a state of stress, as we fear that our vehicles will break down or catch fire,” says the trade worker.

“gasoline butler”

And she asserts that “the situation is not normal and represents a great drain on us,” adding, “If the situation continues as it is, I will have to park the car and move around by scooter.”

In conjunction with what Venezuela is witnessing, sales of fire extinguishers have increased significantly, according to merchants.

In light of the many complaints being recorded, PDVSA is defending itself with a campaign on social media. In one of the videos, Yamaru Duran, a quality control specialist at the Venezuelan Institute of Petroleum Technology, confirms that the results of the tests to which the gasoline distributed in Zulia was subjected were in conformity with the specifications.

And in another video clip, an employee of the Venezuelan National Oil Company appears passing a plastic bottle containing gasoline between a number of people and telling them to “smell the smell.”

These videos received ridicule from the pioneers of the communication sites. “Venezuela’s national oil company establishes first academy for butlers,” said a sarcastic post on The Fake Post.

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