Supplies Safe Despite Russian Oil Blaze

Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft said regional crude oil supplies were secured despite a massive fire at a Siberian oil reservoir.

Officials blamed a Saturday lightning strike for a fire at the Konda facility in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area in Siberia. The fire spread quickly to two nearby reservoirs, though the blaze is now under control, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

More than 300 firefighters and emergency workers responded to the blaze, with at least three first responders killed in the north Siberian oil depository.

Interior officials said there is no longer a threat of explosions at the reservoirs, and Transneft pledged regional oil supplies were secured.

The accident is the second industrial catastrophe in Russia in the past week. Two water ducts collapsed Aug. 17 at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station in Siberia, flooding a turbine hall. A fuel tank also ruptured, sending oil some 50 miles downstream in the Yenisei River.

Oil, which is used to cool plant transformers, spilled from the Sayano-Shushenskaya station, the largest hydroelectric plant in Russia. At least 12 people were killed in the accident, and another 64 are missing.

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