01/03/2010

Press Release

 

ENAP has issued the following press release with respect to the earthquake that affected the center-south of the country in the early morning of Saturday, February 27:

PUBLIC DECLARATION

Empresa Nacional del Petróleo reports that the earthquake that affected the center-south of Chile in the early morning of today, has caused disturbances to the operations of its Bío Bío and Aconcagua refineries, mainly due to power cuts and structural damage which have forced the suspension of production for safety reasons.

Both refineries are being inspected rigorously to establish the extent of the damage and to determine the measures necessary for restoring their safe functioning.

With respect to gasoline supplies, and based on available information, ENAP is in a position to maintain supplies for at least the next two weeks, and for diesel, it has stocks for the next 10 days (provided consumption remains normal for this time of the year). We have therefore immediately begun actions for ensuring supplies by planning new imports of this product.

ENAP is also coordinating additional measures with the distribution companies for resolving this emergency as soon as possible.

ENAP calls on the population to remain calm in the face of this emergency as it is taking all measures both for normalizing production and ordering new imports, and thus ensuring the normal supply of fuels for the country.

Santiago, February 27, 2010.