State-controlled oil company YPF have said an explosion at a tank farm in the western Argentine province of Mendoza injured nearly 20 people at the weekend.

Local media reports have claimed that 17 people were injured in the explosion that was caused by a fire night at the Cerro Divisadero complex, located 600 miles west of Buenos Aires.

Firefighters worked through two evenings to put out the blaze and barriers were erected to keep crude from flowing into the Rio Grande.

The cause of the fire in the tank, which contained 10,000 cubic meters of petroleum, remains under investigation.

Limit the environmental impacts
The Cerro Divisadero complex "holds the production from 10 fields in the Malargue area which accounts for 3.8% of YPF's production," the company said in statement.

Argentina's government took control of YPF in May 2012, when Congress approved the expropriation of a 51 percent stake in the company from Spain's Repsol.

Repsol retains a 12 percent stake in YPF, Argentina's largest oil producer. Argentina and Repsol recently reached an agreement on compensation for the expropriation, but the deal must still be approved by the Argentine Congress and the Spanish oil company's shareholders.

Workers are trying to limit the environmental impact of the accident and have erected barriers to keep crude from flowing into the Rio Grande, YPF added.