Tank explosion and continuing fire at Tehran refinery
The battle between firefighters and the Tehran refinery continues after hours of firefighting operations. On Thursday morning, the fire at the refinery, which seemed to be dying down, intensified again after one of the tanks caught fire.
The massive fire that broke out at the Tehran refinery on Wednesday, June 2, is still ongoing.
According to ISNA news agency, the fire at the refinery flared up again on Thursday morning, and thick smoke can be seen from all over Tehran.
It is said that the explosion of one of the tanks containing oil waste from the refinery and the spillage of this waste caused the fire to spread.
According to refinery officials, the smoke is thicker because the lower parts of the tank contain heavier petroleum products.
ISNA quoted the CEO of Tehran Oil Refining Company as saying that the incident on Wednesday night involved a 20,000-barrel oil waste tank, and "to completely extinguish the fire, the remaining materials in the tank must burn completely."
Before the fire flared up again, Tehran refinery officials had said that the fire was under control and that there was no risk of fuel shortage.
ISNA quoted Shaker Khafaei, a spokesman for the Tehran Oil Refinery, as saying that rumors about a gasoline shortage in Tehran were untrue. According to him, the fire incident “was related to a diesel tank and there is sufficient gasoline in the tanks of the Tehran Refinery.”
The Islamic Republic's state-run news agency, IRNA, also reported on Thursday, June 4, citing confidential sources, "The entrance roads to the refinery have been closed for security reasons and the refinery's production line has also been temporarily shut down until it is fully extinguished and put back into operation."
Speculation continues about the cause of the incident. Mansour Dorajeni, director general of the Tehran Governorate's Crisis Management, said yesterday (Wednesday, June 12) that "the cause of the incident was a pipe leak."
According to IRNA, the relevant officials "rejected the possibility of sabotage in this incident and also emphasized that this incident was not intentional or security-related, and its root cause is under investigation, which will be announced to the public as soon as the expert opinion is available."
Tehran Oil Refining Company, with a refining capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, produces about 17 to 20 percent of Iran's energy. The refinery was launched in 1969 and currently includes two refineries, the South and North.
Source: DW
