Hindustan Petroleum shuts crude unit at Vizag plant after fire

Hindustan Petroleum is still seeking to determine the cause of the fire, which began at about 10:30pm local time on Thursday.  Photo:

Mumbai: Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, India’s third-largest state refiner, shut one of three crude units at its Visakhapatnam refinery on the country’s east coast after a fire on Thursday, according to a company official. 

No restart date has been set for the 3 million tonne-a-year unit, K. Murali, Hindustan Petroleum’s refineries director based in Mumbai, said in a telephone interview.  The company is seeking to determine the cause of the fire, which began at about 10:30pm local time on Thursday, he said. 

There were no deaths or casualties from the blaze, which has been put out, Murali said.  All other facilities are operating normally at the refinery, which has a total capacity of about 8.5 million tonnes a year.