Fire at Omsk Oil Refinery

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Seven people were hospitalized, with one in serious condition, after a fire at Russia’s Omsk oil refinery, according to the local governor on Monday. However, the plant claimed operations were normal and that production plans would remain unaffected.

The Omsk refinery stated, “The fire is under control. The plant’s automatic safety system detected a fire in technological equipment … The company is operating as usual.” It later confirmed that the fire had been contained. The Omsk refinery is Russia’s largest, accounting for about 8% of the country’s oil refining volume.

Local Governor Vitaly Khotsenko reported on Telegram that seven individuals were taken to the hospital, including one in serious condition.

The refinery, controlled by Gazprom Neft, assured that the fire would not impact its production plans, which could accommodate additional capacity.

Reports on social media indicated a loud explosion was heard across several districts of the city, about 2,700 km (1,700 miles) east of Moscow.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, the fire affected a crude distillation unit, CDU-11, one of the two largest primary refining units at the facility. CDU-10, the other main unit, had already been out of service due to an earlier fire in early August. Both CDU-10 and CDU-11 have a production capacity of around 8.6 million metric tons per year.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. It is worth noting that several Russian oil refineries have previously been targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes.

In 2022, the Omsk refinery processed over 21 million metric tons (approximately 420,000 barrels per day) of crude oil.