Blast, fire hit big gas pipeline in northwest Russia

LAVRIKI, Russia, July 26 (Reuters) A powerful explosion early today hit a gas pipeline in northwest Russia.

Officials said the blast was not caused by terrorism and hours later exports were running normally.

The huge explosion hit a trunk pipeline outside Russia's second city of St Petersburg minutes after midnight (o130hrs IST), shaking buildings as far as 5 km away from the epicentre and setting off a fierce fire.

Officials said there were no casualties, but the power of the blast was such that many locals jumped into cars and drove to safety, causing congestion on motorways.

Finnish gas company Gasum, owned by Fortum and E ON Ruhrgas , said export deliveries of natural gas from Russia were interrupted for six hours, but Russian officials denied there had been an outage.

''There was no halt of natural gas supplies to consumers,'' said LenTransGaz, a regional unit of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom . ''All consumers are receiving full gas volumes. All export contract obligations are being fulfilled.'' Emergency officials said they believed the explosion had been caused by the dilapidated state of the 80-cm diameter high-pressure pipeline rather than an act of terrorism.

''I personally exclude a version that this was caused by an act of terror,'' Vladimir Kudryavtsev, head of the regional emergencies ministry department, told Reuters at the scene.

''There is no visible damage typical of an act of terror. A section of the pipeline was cut off, as if by a knife. But there are no signs of external impact.'' Russia's Vesti-24 state television broadcast video footage of the accident showing giant orange and red flames licking black skies. The fire raged for almost two hours.

This reporter saw scorched land and blinking beams of torches as investigators and emergency teams combed the marshy area in a nearby forest charred by the fire. It was hard to breathe as the air was thick with soot and smoke.

The blast was so strong it formed a crater up to 50 metres long and 4 metres deep, Kudryavtsev said. Half of St Petersburg's 5 million people could see the conflagration.

Sergei Gustov, head of Gazprom's local subsidiary Peterburggaz, told Reuters that the blast had hit a junction between two gas distribution stations, and not an export pipeline.

The station was under maintenance works yesterday, with most staff away. ''Otherwise, the consequences would have been much more serious,'' said Vesti-24 television.

The emergencies ministry's Kudryavtsev said a huge, mangled section of the pipe had flown 30 metres after the blast.

Reuters AGL RN1650