BENGHAZI: Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday that one worker was killed and four injured after a fire triggered an explosion at Sirte Oil Company’s gas complex in Marsa Brega, although gas and crude production was unaffected.
Sirte Oil Company is a subsidiary of the state-owned NOC.
NOC Chairman Massoud Soleman said on Facebook that preliminary information indicated a leak in a gas line supplying one of the facility’s boilers.
Soleman told Reuters that repairs were expected to take at least two weeks.
“Delays in the allocation and disbursement of budgets — and the subsequent postponement of essential maintenance and overhauls — inevitably lead to such outcomes, and could potentially result in even greater disasters in the future,” Massoud said.
The NOC said operations were continuing normally, with no disruption to gas supplies to the domestic market or to crude oil production.
“As a precautionary measure, the entire plant was shut down,” the NOC said, adding that firefighters contained the blaze, isolated the gas lines and brought the fire under control.
Residents of Brega said they heard a large explosion and saw thick black smoke rising into the sky.
Libya’s oil sector has been hit by repeated disruptions since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi, with production affected by both political disputes and technical problems.
