Incident Report

Subject:                     Fire put out at Croatia's Sisak Refinery - 4 Fire-fighters Injured

Date of Email report:   Tue 21/06/2011

Report Detail:

A fire burned for three hours at an oil refinery in the central Croatian town of Sisak on Monday before firefighters brought it under control and then put it out, the plant's owner INA said. "The cause was crude products catching fire. There are no casualties and no danger to the environment," Croatian oil and gas group INA said in a statement.

The refinery manager, Damir Butkovic, said that the fire had been extinguished at 13.45 p.m. local time (11.45 GMT). "Tomorrow we will start assessing the damage," he said, declining to comment on the impact of the fire on production.  The refinery, which can process 60,000 barrels a day, also suffered a fire in January 2010. Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said the government would seek a thorough investigation as this was the second blaze in 18 months. The Sisak refinery and INA's other refinery, a larger plant in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka, are being upgraded so that they can refine oil products for European Union markets. State television reported that four firefighters had suffered injuries, which are not life-threatening.

The fire broke out at 10.30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT), and some 130 firefighters brought it under control by 12.45 p.m., state media and officials reported. The environment ministry said that there was no air pollution recorded following the blaze. INA's biggest shareholder is Hungary's MOL which owns 47.46 percent. The Croatian government owns 44.84 percent. INA, one of Croatia's largest companies, has exploration and production assets. It is exploring for gas and oil domestically, in Egypt, Angola and Syria.

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