Transneft suspends pumping oil to Lukoil refinery due to fire

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (PRIME) -- Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has suspended oil pumping to Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez, a refinery of oil major Lukoil, in the Nizhny Novgorod Region due to a fire at the refinery, Igor Dyomin, aide to the president of Transneft, told reporters on Thursday.

“Pumping to Nefteorgsintez has been suspended since 2.15 p.m. local time after a telephoned message,” he said.

The fire broke out at a gasoline reservoir of the refinery at 4.10 p.m. during maintenance works. Lukoil said that a probable reason of the fire is violation of industrial safety rules during maintenance. The region’s administration said that the fire was isolated at 5.00 p.m. and put out at 5.32 p.m. and that the accident claimed lives of four people. Lukoil has not confirmed casualties at the plant, but said that the fire bears no threat to the key facilities of the refinery.

Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez is one of Russia’s largest refineries, it refines up to 17 million tonnes of oil per year and produces more than 70 types of oil products.

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