Explosion, fire hit Iraq's biggest oil refinery

Most of the Baiji oil refinery, Iraq's biggest, was shut down on Friday after an explosion on its main gas pipeline started a fire, a refinery official said. "We shut down most of the production units in the refinery as a precautionary measure. Now things are under control and we will re-start the shutdown units but we need 48 hours to restore full operation," said the Baiji refinery official, who declined to be named.
The pipeline brings natural gas from Kirkuk's gas field to operate some of its units at the plant, which is about 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad. The official said initial reports indicated the blast was caused by a rupture in a part of the pipeline that was buried underground and had rusted. Abdulrahman al-Jubouri, an engineer at the water treatment unit of the refinery, said the explosion may have been caused by a short circuit in electrical wires.