MOSCOW (MRC) -- Firemen are fighting a blaze at PetroChina’s subsidiary refinery and petrochemical plant in northwest China, reported MD with reference to company officials' statement.
The fire that broke out at 8.39am local time (0039 GMT) was triggered by a leak at an 300,000 tonne-per-year air separation unit, official Xinhua News Agency reported.
A Beijing-based PetroChina media official said so far no casualties have been reported.
It was not immediately clear if other main production facilities were affected by the fire.
The Lanzhou plant, in northwestern Gansu province, is one of the country’s oil refining hubs. It operates crude refining capacity of just over 200,000 barrels per day and also an affiliated petrochemical complex.
On Saturday, China suffered its worst industrial accident in a year when an explosion killed at least 69 people and injured more than 120 at a factory that makes wheels for US carmakers, including General Motors.
As MRC reported earlier, Chinese state oil and gas giant PetroChina plans to spend more than 10 billion yuan (USD1.6 billion) on shale gas this year. PetroChina's decision to triple its shale gas spending from expenditures on the unconventional fuel over the past few years comes just months after Sinopec lifted hopes that China is near a breakthrough by announcing a commercial find.
PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC