Fire broke out today at Reliance Industries' export-oriented oil refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. The fire was brought under control and there were not any reports of casualty. The fire broke out at the coker unit located at the back side of the newly commissioned refinery and flames could be seem from a distance of 10 kms, sources said.
"A fire broke out at Reliance's Jamnagar refinery but there was no casualty", said VP Patel, Jamnagar collector. The fire was reported at coker unit located at the back side of the refinery, which has a production capacity of 33 million tonnes.
"There was a minor fire in a section of the RPL Refinery. The fire was localised, contained and brought under control by the Reliance fire-fighting team within 30 minutes. There have been no causalities or any injuries. The rest of the RPL refinery is operating normally and product dispatch from the RPL refinery is continuing as per schedule", Reliance spokesperson said in a statement.
"The primary investigation found short circuit as the cause of the fire and there are possibilities of injuries", said Meghpar police inspector JN Aala. However, the actual cause will be known after the detail investigation.
Coker is the key driver to the high gross refining margins - the revenue a company earns on converting a barrel of crude oil into fuel - for the company. Coker converts fuel oil into high value products like diesel and naphtha and the incident has the potential of derailing the refinery's gasoline and gasoil (diesel) production.