Iraq says refinery's output not affected by fire.

• Reuters
• Tuesday January 8 2008

(Repeats to insert UPDATE tag in headline)

BAGHDAD, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A fire at Iraq's largest oil refinery, which killed one employee and injured others, has not affected production, the Oil Ministry said on Tuesday.

Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed al-Shamaa said in a statement that Baiji refinery in northern Iraq was producing fuel and oil derivatives with a capacity of more than 200,000 barrels per day after Monday's fire, which was sparked by a technical fault.

Some units at the refinery had been stopped for precautionary measures but were back online on Tuesday.

"The fire did not disrupt the production at the refinery," Shamaa said. "The refinery is continuing to provide oil derivatives and fuel to storage facilities and gas stations."

He said a chief engineer had been killed and many workers injured in the blaze, which engineers at the refinery told Reuters on Monday was caused by an explosion that destroyed the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit.

The ministry statement did not say whether the LPG unit was destroyed. A ministry spokesman said engineers were evaluating the extent of the damage caused by the fire.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani praised firefighters' efforts in battling the blaze, which was extinguished after two hours. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, editing by Ross Colvin and Anthony Barker