A massive fire that erupted last month near an oil refinery in Karachi’s Korangi Creek area extinguished by itself in the wee hours of Tuesday, but the authorities later reignited it to “prevent gas leak hazards”, according to rescue officials.
The mysterious blaze flared up on March 29 during drilling by a local company.
“The fire extinguished itself last night but the gas was still leaking, which could cause health and safety hazards to the people in nearby areas,” Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan told Business Recorder.
“The security personnel deployed at the site also started to face difficulty in breathing due to presence of Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in the air.
“After examination, authorities decided to reignite the fire in a controlled manner,” he added.
The fire was burning again for the 18th day on Tuesday since it firstly erupted on March 29.
Hassaan Khan said the fire could not be extinguished completely until the gas leakage was contained.
In a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) later on April 3, TPL Properties confirmed that a natural gas pocket was source of the fire.
“Based on initial technical evaluations as well as independent views expressed by industry experts indicate that the gas may be shallow biogenic methane, a naturally occurring gas resulting from organic material decomposition,” the company said in the notice.
TPL further said then since the area was not part of a known natural gas reservoir, the gas pocket was expected to dissipate naturally over time provided the flame is allowed to burn.
Last week, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) constituted a technical committee to oversee the assessment and containment efforts as the fire continued with the same intensity.
As per the details, the committee comprises representatives from Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Oil & Gas Development Company Limited and Pakistan Refinery Limited. The committee has been tasked to come up with a swift and effective resolution for the mysterious fire.
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