Fire briefly interrupted production at Gazprom Nefts Omsk base oil refinery on May 26, according to the Russian emergency ministry.
Omsk emergency firefighters were notified about the fire at 12:38 p.m. last Thursday. Upon arrival at the plant, the fire brigade was directed to the refinerys lubricants production facilities. Our brigade learned that a one-floor building, [housing] the heater for the plants deasphalting unit, caught fire, the ministry press department said.
No injuries were reported. Ten firefighting vehicles and 35 men responded to the call. As a result [of the fire], the unit was temporarily shut off, while the plants overall production process was not impacted, press department noted.
No information was available immediately about the cause or cost of the fire. An investigation is underway to determine why the fire broke out in the deasphalting unit heater, and how much damage was done. The company did not respond to Lube Report questions by press time.
The operator of the Omsk base oil plant is Gazprom Neft-SM, lubricants arm of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. The Omsk refinery, one of the largest in Russia, includes a 240,000 ton per year API Group I base oil plant and 50,000 t/y finished lubricants blending facility.