One worker was killed and four were injured on Wednesday after a fire triggered an explosion at the Sirte Oil Company's gas complex in Marsa Brega, in eastern Libya, the country's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.

Source: Reuters

What caused the blast

Preliminary information indicates a leak in a gas line supplying one of the facility's boilers, NOC Chairman Massoud Soleman said in a statement posted on Facebook. He told Reuters that repairs at the damaged facility were expected to take at least two weeks.

Soleman also blamed years of delayed budgets and postponed maintenance for the incident. "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," he said.

Plant shut, fire brought under control

As a precaution, the entire plant was shut down while firefighters contained the blaze, isolated the gas lines and brought the fire under control, the NOC said. Residents of Brega said they heard a large explosion and saw thick black smoke rising into the sky.

The damaged unit will remain shut while the cause of the leak is examined and the site is made safe. The Marsa Brega complex is among the oldest energy installations in Libya and a key hub for crude and gas from the Sirte Basin.

Production not hit, NOC says

The NOC stressed that operations were continuing normally elsewhere, with no disruption to gas supplies for the domestic market and no impact on crude oil production.

Libya's oil sector has been hit by repeated disruptions since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, with production affected by both political disputes and technical problems.