Crisis averted at Habiganj oil refinery fire

A crisis was averted after a fire broke out at an oil refinery at Sylhet Gasfield in Bahubal upazila of Habiganj that threatened to cause a massive explosion.

The fire originated from a drain near the waste management area just outside the 4,000 barrel condensate Borogaon Oil Refinery plant in Rashidpur in the early hours of Thursday.

Six units of firefighters brought the blaze under control after two hours at around 2:45am, confirmed Shimul Rafi, deputy assistant director of Habiganj Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Three workers of the oil refinery were injured in the incident but other than that, there were no reports of major damage to the refinery itself, reports our Habiganj correspondent quoting Bahubal UNO Snigdha Talukdar.

A Sylhet Gas Field Ltd (SGFL) source said a four-member probe committee was formed to determine the cause of the fire and submit a report within 48 hours.

SGFL General Manager (Administration) Faruk Hossain was made the head of the probe committee.

“When petrol, diesel and octane are separated at the condensate splitter, their waste goes into a cistern, which is then incinerated every few days. At the time of the incident, the waste leaked into the drain which then caught fire,” Shimul Rafi, deputy assistant director of Habiganj Fire Service and Civil Defence.

He said the fire was away from the main plant. “A fire at the main plant would have caused severe damage.”