ANOTHER large-scale fire in Russia, this time at an oil and gas field

Roman Petrenko
Pravda
Sun, 18 Dec 2022 20:22 UTC

The fire occurred at the oil and gas condensate Markovskoye field in the Russian Irkutsk Oblast; five injuries were reported.

Source: RBC. Meduza

Details: It is reported that the fire with the area of thousands of square metres was localised quickly; there were no victims, and five people were injured.

Propaganda media report that "there was a fire at the technological installation"; people wrote that they heard an explosion on social media.

So far, the cause of the fire has not been reported.

Comment: TASS reports:

"The fire was localized at 02:24 a.m. local time (09:24 p.m. Moscow time). The jet fire at the buffer drum area has been extinguished. Firefighting operation continues. There is no threat to the local population," it said.

The fire broke out on Sunday during the works at the field's gas treatment unit. According to preliminary data, five people were hurt, Konstantin Vlasov, head of the settlement of Verkhnemarkovo, located 2.5 kilometers of the field, told TASS. He also said that the accident did not tell on the operation of the settlement's vital facilities.

Discovered in 1962, the Merkovskoye oil and gas condensate field is operated by the Irkutsk Oil Company, which obtained the license in 2000.

The Irkutsk Oil Company is one of Russia's largest independent producer of hydrocarbons. It operated in the Irkutsk region, Krasnoyarsk territory, and in the Republic od Sakha (Yakutia). It plans to commission a gas chemical facility in the north of the Irkutsk region in 2024.

Below are just some of the most recent suspect fires and explosions in Russia. We suspect that most of them are due to sabotage and/or remotely-activated cyberattacks.

• Huge fire at industrial estate in Russian city of Vladivostok (17th December)
• Huge blast hits major oil refinery in latest hit to Russian infrastructure, fuels suspicions of sabotage (15th December)
• SECOND Russian shopping mall is mysteriously destroyed by fire, raising suspicions of sabotage attacks (12th December)
• Historic building goes up in flames in Moscow, follows massive blaze at mall (10th December)
• One dead after fire ravages one of Russia's biggest shopping centres (9th December)
• Huge fire engulfs residence of Algerian Ambassador to Russia in Moscow (23rd November)
• Fire at warehouse in central Moscow kills 2 (20th November)
• Huge explosion at gas pipeline near St. Petersburg, Russia (19th November)