CM, NIA team visits Pachpadra refinery; petroleum ministry orders probe

refinery

Jaipur/New Delhi: A day after a massive fire ripped through the core processing unit of Pachpadra refinery in Balotra district, which PM Narendra Modi was scheduled to inaugurate on Tuesday, officials from security agencies including NIA, forensic teams and the state administration led by chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, reached the site to assess the damage.

Sharma, accompanied by ministers, chief secretary and other senior officials, and a team from Rajasthan ATS, inspected the site and held discussions with the refinery management to obtain information about the accident.

A four-member team has been constituted by the govt to investigate the blaze, which will examine why the emergency fire extinguishing system at the facility failed to operate, in addition to determining the cause of the incident. Officials aware of the development said the fire extinguishing system, the first line of protection, failed to deploy immediately.

Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, said the team, led by former MRPL managing director M Venkatesh, had already reached Barmer to investigate the incident. “We will only be able to tell you the reasons and how much time the repair will take after the report is submitted,” she said.

Another official aware of the development said the team had been asked to submit the report “as soon as possible”.

HPCL, which holds 74% stake in the refinery with Rajasthan govt having 26%, said, “Prima facie it appears that leakage of hydrocarbons through one of the valves or flanges in the heat exchanger circuit caused the fire.” The financial and operational impact, if any, was being assessed, but it was not expected to be material, it added.

The fire was contained within the heat exchanger stacks in the crude distillation unit section of the refinery, the company said, adding that all other units were quickly isolated.