CM, NIA team visit Rajasthan refinery after Monday fire | India News
Sharma, along with ministers and officials and a team from Rajasthan ATS, visited the Balotra site and held discussions with the refinery management.A 4-member team has been constituted to investigate the fire, which will, among other things, examine why the fire-fighting system failed to operate.
Fire extinguishers failed to deploy immediately, officials say
The investigation team will also determine the cause of the incident. Officials aware of the development said fire-fighting systems, the first line of protection, failed to deploy immediately.Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum, said a team led by former MRPL Managing Director M Venkatesh has reached Barmer to investigate the incident. “Only after submitting the report will we be able to tell the reasons and how long it will take to repair,” he said.HPCL, which owns 74% stake in the refinery, while the state government has 26%, said, “Prima facie it appears that the fire was caused by leakage of hydrocarbons through a valve or flange in the heat exchanger circuit.” The financial and operational impact, if any, is being assessed, but initially, it is not expected to be material, it added.The fire was in a stack of heat exchangers in the crude distillation unit section of the refinery, the company said.
