Emergency workers have put out a fire that erupted at Eastern Refinery, the country's only oil refiner, in Chattogram's Patenga.
A pipeline at the refinery caught fire around 11:25 am on Saturday, according to Abdul Hamid, deputy assistant director of the district's fire service.
Several fire-fighting vehicles from the port city's Bandar, Patenga, EPZ and Agrabad stations later extinguished the flames around 12:45 pm, reports bdnews24.com.
The fire originated near a part of the facility known as the 'metering section', according to Hamid.
"It's like a junction, containing around 70 to 80 small pipes. We were able to quickly bring the fire under control," he said.
Md Lokman, managing director of Eastern Refinery, said the fire started in a pit next to the metering section, but the incident did not result in any damage.
A six-strong probe committee has been constituted by the company to determine the cause of the incident, according to Lokman. "We hope that they'll submit a report this evening."
Eastern Refinery began commercial operation in May 1968. The facility was nationalised four years later in 1972. It later became a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation following its inception in 1977.
With an annual refining capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes, the facility processes imported fuel oil which is then supplied throughout the country.
