More than 2,000 km north of Ukraine, an oil refinery ablaze

The refinery that is owned and operated by Lukoil caught fire on the 6th of August. Flames soon embraced one of the plant’s sections.

Usinsk is located in the northern part of the Komi Republic, an oil-rich region that stretches north of the Arctic Circle.

According to several sources, the fire started after an explosion. Eye witnesses told newspaper Komi Novosti that the flames covered “major parts of the production facility.” A video from Telegram channel Syktyvkar01 made from several kilometres afar shows a major column of black smoke over the area. 

Lukoil has not issued any official information about the blaze, but representatives of the company told KomiInform that there was an “insignificant outbreak of fire” and that it was “swiftly extinguished.”

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The local government has not published any information about the situation. The same applies to local town Mayor Nikolai Takaev, as well as regional fire and emergency authorities.

The situation in Usinsk fire comes only two months after another refinery in the region came ablaze. Two people were killed when one of the reservoirs of the refinery in Ukhta caught fire.

Locals are now increasingly concerned about the situation, local media reports. The oil processing industry is of major importance for the north Russian region and the local population is at odds over the possible reasons behind the emergencies.

The fires in Komi come as Ukrainian forces successfully have managed to target military objects and industrial families across major parts of central Russia. In July, a Ukrainian drone reportedly managed to damage two strategic bombers based in Olenya, the air field in the Kola Peninsula.