A 12-metre stretch of crude oil pipeline in Iran's oil-rich south-west has been destroyed in a fire, but oil officials said exports from Opec's second biggest producer would be unaffected, media said on Saturday.
State television showed pictures from Friday of flames licking out of the burning pipeline and columns of black smoke billowing into the sky after the crude poured out into the river Karoun north of the city of Ahvaz.
The environmental effect of the leak was not immediately clear.
A state oil company official speaking to the ISNA news agency said the pipeline had been carrying 35,000 barrels per day (bpd), but the company had found ways to compensate for this loss.
"The pipeline being out of service had no effect on exports," he said, adding it would be repaired on Saturday night.