One worker killed, four injured as fire triggers explosion at Libyan gas complex

BENGHAZI: Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday that one worker was killed and four injured after a fire triggered an explosion at Sirte Oil Company’s gas complex in Marsa Brega, although gas and crude production was unaffected.

Sirte Oil Company is a subsidiary of the state-owned NOC.

NOC Chairman Massoud Soleman said on Facebook that preliminary information indicated a leak in ⁠a gas line supplying one ⁠of the facility’s boilers.

Soleman told Reuters that repairs were expected to take at least two weeks.

“Delays in the allocation and disbursement of budgets — and the subsequent postponement of essential ⁠maintenance and overhauls — inevitably lead to such outcomes, and could potentially result in even greater disasters in the future,” Massoud said.