REFINERY NEWS: Operations to resume June 3 at Tehran refinery after fire

Refinery: Tehran, Iran

Owner: National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Co. and private owners

Overall capacity: 250,000 b/d

Notes: Operations are expected to resume June 3 at the Tehran refinery, according to oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, as quoted by the official oil ministry Shana news agency. The refinery had been taken offline June 2 for safety reasons following an explosion and fire, according to media reports.

Zanganeh was also quoted as saying that the incident occurred at two tanks not related to production and that the refinery has not been damaged.

Refinery operators clarified that the incident started from gasoil storage. According to earlier reports, the fire had affected LPG tanks.

Refinery spokesman Shaker Khafaei said taking units offline "is temporary in order to secure the refinery's work force and operational and aid forces," according to Shana. "As soon as the incident is fully controlled, production will resume in various units of the refinery," he said.

The fire is now "completely contained and it will not spread to other parts," Khafaei also said.

The director general of Tehran crisis management group, Mansour Darejati, told state television earlier in the day that one of the transfer pipelines had been leaking.

Officials also assured there are sufficient stockpiles of both gasoline and gasoil to cover domestic demand.

The refinery covers around 17%-20% of Iran's energy needs. It produces gasoline, gasoil, kerosene, jet fuel, fuel oil and LPG.

The 1968-built refinery caught fire a year ago due to gasoline leakage.

Source: reports