Fuel leak in underground pipeline at Kazakhstan's Atyrau Oil Refinery fixed

ASTANA. Jan 13 (Interfax) - A fuel leak in an underground pipeline at the Atyrau Oil Refinery that was discovered last Friday has been fixed, the plant's press service said.

"At the Atyrau Oil Refinery, the defective section of the underground pipeline for pumping gasoline has been completely repaired, and the fuel leak has been eliminated," the press service said on Monday.

The cause of the leak was not specified. This information will be provided after a special commission completes its work, the press service said.

"The refinery continues to operate normally. Production and delivery of the main types of petroleum products is being carried out according to the plan approved by the Kazakh Energy Ministry," it said.

As reported, on January 10, a gasoline leak was detected in one of the facility's tank farms. The pipeline was disconnected from the tank.

As a result of the incident, 20-30 tonnes of oil products leaked, and the entire volume of the leak was pumped out by vacuum and returned to the system for processing. There was therefore no damage to oil products, the refinery said.

The Atyrau Oil Refinery is one of three leading oil refineries in Kazakhstan. It is located in the west of the country. Its design throughput capacity is 5.5 million tonnes per year, with a processing depth of up to 86.4%. The refinery is 99% owned by JSC KazMunayGas.