The Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayyad inspected the fire location that erupted this morning in the oil facilities in Zahrani, and was briefed on the fuel tank damages and the efforts carried out to contain the fire.

Following the visit, Fayyad indicated that he “immediately formed a committee to investigate the causes of what happened in terms of technical, and administrative aspects, to find out the reasons of what happened and determining responsibilities. Fayyad said that the investigation results will be announced upon its completion,” stressing “the importance of conducting maintenance to all vital facilities, on a regular basis, to avoid what happened today.”

Fayyad regretted “what happened,” and read out the initial report, which he had asked the facility manager to prepare as a result of the fire that broke out.

He stated: “At half past seven in the morning on Monday, October 11, 2021, during the process of transferring gasoline from tank 702 to the 701 tank, both of which are designated as intermediate tanks for the delivery of gasoline, and not for storage, given that Zahrani oil facilities do not sell the mentioned substance except to the Lebanese army and security forces.”

Fayyad added: “While the process of transferring gasoline from tank 702 to tank 701 has been started at 6 am as a result of the statement of the head of the movement and delivery department that the roof of tank 702 is tilted and that gasoline can become floating above the surface without this implying any direct danger and this case is repeated periodically. Since the 702 tank contains a quantity of about 500,000 liters of gasoline, and that after an hour and a half and after the completion of the transfer of about 250,000 liters to the 701 tank, a large fire suddenly occurred without any description for any technical reason so far as a result of the force of the large fire. We immediately summoned the firefighting team that succeeded in isolating tank 701 from the transmission of the fire to it, as well as limiting the possibilities of any of the tanks exploding.

The situation is currently under almost complete control, and no injuries have occurred. The work team at the facility as well as the technical and administrative departments is closely following up on the ground, with remarkable control from all the security forces, civil defense and firefighting team.

It is worth noting that the fire has been completely brought under control, and material damages has been limited.