Orsk Refinery continues to ship fuel despite suspending operations

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - PJSC Orsknefteorgsintez continues to ship motor fuel from the Orsk Oil Refinery, despite its operations being put on hold due to a dam burst resulting from flooding, the refinery's press service told Interfax.

"The temporary shutdown of the refining capacity of the Orsk Refinery has not affected shipments of automobile fuel, since the plant's tank farm has sufficient inventory," it said.

As of 12:00 on April 8, the Nickel railway station was still operating as usual, enabling fuel told Interfax be shipped.

"Priority is given to requests for shipments of automobile fuel by customer collection to supply the Orenburg region with the necessary petroleum products. Over the next ten days, the plant will be able to ensure diesel fuel and gasoline shipments by collection for the region's needs at the same level as before the emergency. In April, planned output was lower than previous periods in connection with scheduled repairs at the enterprise," the press service said.

Orsknefteorgsintez decided to suspend the operations of the Orsk refinery on Sunday due to flooding. A protective embankment dam built in 2010 burst in Orsk on Friday. A state of emergency is in effect in the Orenburg region since April 4 due to the worsening flash flood situation.

Orsknefteorgsintez is ForteInvest's biggest asset. The oil refinery's capacity is 6 million tonnes of oil products per annum.