One dead and four injured in fire at Libya’s Brega gas plant
A fire broke out on Wednesday morning at the Marsa al-Brega gas plant in eastern Libya, killing one worker and injuring four others, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.
The plant is operated by Sirte Oil Company, an NOC subsidiary. According to the NOC, the fire caused an explosion on a gas line that supplies fuel to the plant’s steam boilers. The worker who died was a foreign Arab national. The four injured are company employees.
Emergency and firefighting teams brought the fire under control and closed the gas lines. The plant was then shut down completely as a precaution, and the site was secured.
The NOC said Sirte Oil Company is otherwise operating normally. It added that the incident has not affected gas supplies to the Libyan market or the country’s crude oil production.
NOC chairman Masoud Suleiman said the delay in approving and releasing maintenance funds is holding up regular maintenance and major overhauls at Libya’s oil facilities. He warned that delays in testing safety systems, such as safety valves and alarms, mean they may not work properly when needed, which puts workers at greater risk.
Suleiman called on the authorities to release the maintenance funds quickly, so companies can carry out maintenance on schedule and inspect their highest-risk equipment first. “Providing these allocations on time is essential to protect workers and residents of surrounding areas and to ensure continued safe operations,” he said.
