Fire at Reliance's Jamnagar oil refinery

Ahmedabad, Oct 25: Reliance Industries Ltd.'s Jamnagar refinery was shut, when a fire broke out. The refinery will be closed for ten days at the least, said an official from the Petroleum Ministry.

The copany officials reported that there are no injuried reported and the plant was evacuated immediately.

Emergency teams rushed to the refinery as the fire alert was sounded at around 1030 hrs IST. The fire might have been caused by a spark. Approxiately 800 people were in the refinery at the time of the incident and about 100 people were present at the site of the operation.

Reports said the fire has damaged a hydrotreater unit at the plant. A hydrotreater unit is used to remove sulphur in refining petroleum - one of the first stages of refining.

Jamnagar is India's biggest refinery producing between 32 and 40 million tonnes of petrol and diesel annually. It accounts for 24 per cent of India's refining capacity and produces 6,50,000 barrels of oil. Production at the plant may fall to 16-17 million tonnes (MT).

Sources