Saudi Arabian state-run giant Saudi Aramco said four people died in a fire at the Ras Tanura terminal, adding the blaze did not affect crude and oil product exports from the world's largest offshore oil export facility.
A statement sent to Reuters said two Filipinos, an Indian and a Sri Lankan died in the incident at Ras Tanura, all workers with a maintenance company used at the site.
Twelve were injured, including one Saudi official from Aramco and 11 workers from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
It said the fire was brought under control within an hour after it broke out on Thursday morning.
"There is no disruption to any of Saudi Aramco operations after the fire, including exports of crude and oil products," an Aramco spokesman said on Saturday.
Exports from the Ras Tanura terminal were continuing from other berths, he said.
"We have a lot of redundancies built into all of our operations, and this is no exception," the spokesman said. "We have more than one berth from which we can load naphtha and other oil products."
Ras Tanura has capacity to load between 5.5 million and 6 million barrels per day of oil.
A shipping source said earlier that berth number 10 at the port was closed after the fire. The berth was rarely used and could load products such as naphtha, fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas at a rate of 600 to 800 barrels per hour, the shipper told Reuters.
The fire broke out in a berth that was undergoing maintenance, the news agency added.
Saudi Arabia's press agency said Aramco had formed a technical committee to investigate the causes of the the accident.
By Upstream Staff
© Upstream 2007
