At least 15 people were killed in a fire that followed a blast at a GAIL India Ltd. (GAIL) natural gas pipeline in south India, a local administrative official said.
The fire, which started early this morning, has been doused and the injured have been admitted to hospitals in the district, said B. Suguna, a government officer at Amalapuram town in Andhra Pradesh state, where the fire occurred. The federal government has ordered an enquiry in to the cause of the fire, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters in New Delhi.
State-run GAIL has closed a section of the pipeline that was carrying gas from a field operated by Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) to Lanco Infratech Ltd.’s power station in Andhra Pradesh state, GAIL Chairman B.C. Tripathi said by phone.
The incident follows a series of accidents this month. A fire broke out at a vacuum-gasoil treating unit at a refinery operated by HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd. in Punjab state on June 20. Six people died and 36 were injured after a gas leak at state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd.’s plant in Chhattisgarh state in central India on June 12, according to a company statement.
ONGC has shut some gas wells in the area, ONGC Chairman Dinesh K. Sarraf said. The company’s oil refinery near the site is operating normally, he said.
GAIL shares fell as much as 2 percent to 451 rupees and traded 0.7 percent lower at 457 rupees as of 11 a.m. in Mumbai. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) rose 0.5 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; Debjit Chakraborty in New Delhi at dchakrabor10@bloomberg.net; Sharang Limaye in Hyderabad at slimaye@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net Indranil Ghosh, Abhay Singh
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