UPDATE 4-Petrobras shuts Argentina refinery after fatal blast

* Local officials order plant shutdown, investigation

* Blast at resting area kills one worker, injures another

* Bahia Blanca refinery has a capacity of 31,000 bpd

(Recasts with Petrobras confirming plant shutdown)

By Walter Bianchi

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 10 (Reuters) - An explosion early
Wednesday at a small refinery in Argentina killed one worker
and injured another, and local officials ordered Brazil's
state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) to shut down the
facility, the company said.

Operations at the 31,000 barrel-per-day refinery, in the
port city of Bahia Blanca in Buenos Aires province, were not
affected but local officials ordered the plant closed pending
an investigation.

"The refinery was preventively stopped on a request by
Bahia Blanca's deputy secretary of the environment," Petrobras
said in a statement. Local officials had said it would take two
days for the refinery to gradually shut down.

The blast happened in a rest area when two workers walked
in after their shift.

"When they switched on the lights there was an explosion,"
Pedro Milla, an official with Argentina's Federation of Oil,
Gas and Biofuels Workers, told Reuters.

Although the plant only accounts for five percent of
Argentina's total refining capacity of 627,000 BPD, high energy
demand during the Southern Hemisphere winter could force the
country to import more fuel. For more see, [ID:nN1296899]

Energy reserves have fallen in recent years in Latin
America's third-biggest economy, and the country has had to
import more fuel to meet its needs. Critics blame government
intervention in the market and political uncertainty for
discouraging investment.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz, Guido Nejamkis,
and Gabriel Burin in Buenos Aires and Denise Luna in Rio de
Janeiro; Writing by by Luis Andres Henao; Editing by David
Gregorio)