The 2010 Puebla oil pipeline explosion was a large

oil pipeline Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...

explosion that occurred at 5:50 am CST on December 19, 2010, in the city of San Martín Texmelucan de Labastida,

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The pipeline, running from

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

, was owned by the

Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...

petroleum company, and exploded after thieves from the

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscri ...

drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...

attempted to siphon off the oil. The

gas explosion A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as nat ...

and resulting

oil fire Oil well fires are oil or gas wells that have caught on fire and burn. They can be the result of accidents, arson, or natural events, such as lightning. They can exist on a small scale, such as an oil field spill catching fire, or on a huge scal ...

killed 29 people, including thirteen children, and injured 52. Some of the flames in the fire became ten metres high, and the smoke towered over the city. Firefighters eventually controlled the blaze, but electricity and water remained cut following the explosions, and the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

was deployed to the site.

Mexican President The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...

visited the explosion site on the day of the incident to offer condolences to the victims' families. The fire was one of the deadliest in Mexican history, largely destroying an area of five-kilometre radius, and some oil may have polluted the Atoyac River.

Background

The

gang, one of the most powerful drug cartels and

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

groups involved in the ongoing Mexican Drug War, was blamed for the explosion. Throughout 2010, drug-related conflicts had killed 12,456 people. In 2008, Pemex reported 9.3 billion

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

($750 million USD) of oil lost to thieves. Previously, close to sixty illegal tapping incidents occurred near the explosion site due to thieves stealing the oil. Much of the stolen oil is often trafficked to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Investigation

Felipe Calderón ordered an official investigation into the incident. A hole was found at the pipeline, and several bodies lay near the initial site of the explosion. The cause of the spark that led to the explosion is still unknown. The investigation is to include an assessment of the environmental impact of the explosion, including the pollution of downstream reservoirs.

Mechanical failure Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to ...

was not ruled out as a possible cause of the oil leak despite evidence of theft and tampering of the pipeline. The pipeline was re-opened on December 22.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puebla oil pipeline explosion Oil spills in Mexico Explosions in Mexico Battles of the Mexican drug war Organized crime events in Mexico Pemex Explosions in 2010 Mass murder in 2010 Puebla Oil Pipeline Explosion, 2010 Puebla Oil Pipeline Explosion, 2010 2010 in the environment December 2010 events in Mexico Petroleum industry in Mexico Los Zetas