HPCL-Mittal shuts VGO unit at Bathinda refinery after fire

No one was injured in the fire, which was reported at one of the pipelines from the vacuum gas oil unit

Guru Gobind Singh refinery in Bhatinda, Punjab reported a fire in its vacuum gas oil treating unit at about 6.30 am. The unit was immediately shutdown. The refinery is run by a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum and Mittal Energy. The fire was controlled by 7:30 am and residual oil was being allowed to burn off. The situation is under control and there are no casualties or injuries of any kind, a company statement said.

No one was injured in the fire that was brought under control, HMEL CEO & Managing Director Prabh Das said.

The fire was reported today morning at one of the pipelines from the vacuum gas oil (VGO) unit, which removes sulphur from crude oil.

The VGO unit had to be shut down because of the fire but the rest of the 9 million tonnes a year refinery is operating normally.

Balance units, at present, continue to operate and the refinery is functional. Probe has been initiated to understand the cause of the fire. Corrective steps and action will follow after a root cause analysis is complete.