India's Hindustan shuts portion of Visakhapatnam refinery following fatal fire
By SAURABH CHATURVEDI
NEW DELHI -- State-run Hindustan Petroleum partly shut its refinery in southern India on Friday following a fire at a cooling plant that left one worker dead.
The fire "is under control now," Hindustan Petroleum Refineries Director B.K. Namdeo said by phone from Mumbai.
The company shut one unit of the refinery at the coastal city of Visakhapatnam as a precautionary step, Mr. Namdeo said. It is too early to estimate the loss from the fire, he added.
Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy said the death toll could go up.
"As many as 40 people were injured in the fire, out of which 35 were taken to hospital with burn injuries," Mr. Reddy said. One of them died later, he added.
The Visakhapatnam refinery has a crude oil processing capacity of 8.3 million tpy, or about 166,000 bpd. The company has another refinery in Mumbai, western India, with a capacity of 6.5 million tpy.
It also runs a joint-venture refinery with Mittal Energy Investment Pte. at Bhatinda in northern India. This refinery can process 9.0 million tpy of crude.
Dow Jones Newswires
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