PUTRAJAYA, May 23 — The fire incident at an oil refinery in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan yesterday did not affect the whole supply chain as it only involved one storage tank.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi said Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd (HRC) was now conducting a thorough check on its supply.
“HRC gave its assurance that supply is sufficient and Gantry operation is back to normal. It has continued to provide stocks of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Petrol U97, Kero and diesel to SMT Sdn Bhd, NGC Energy Bhd and Petron as usual at about 2.40am today,” he said in a statement here today.
“Based on the company’s record, the current storage of the 23 x 60 metre-tank is 10,000 litres. Initial investigations found that the fire was caused by lightning during heavy rain yesterday. No casualty was reported and the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) is investigating the main cause of the incident,” he said.
HRC was previously known as Shell Refining Company Bhd.
Meanwhile, in Seremban, state JBPM director Hamdan Ali said it took 10 hours for firemen to put out the fire and the operation was completed at about 1.50am.
He said the high-risk operation involved 124 firemen and officers from Negri Sembilan and Putrajaya.
“This operation also involved 25 people from HRC and 10 from the Petron’s emergency response team. Although we faced some difficulties, we managed to overcome it,” he said. — Bernama
