Fire breaks out at gas processing plant in Kazakhstan

ALMATY (Reuters) -A fire broke out on Monday at a gas processing plant on the Zhanazhol gas condensate field in Kazakhstan, local authorities and the company developing the field said on Tuesday.

Four workers have been hospitalised with heavy burns at the facility run by Kazakh-Chinese joint venture CNPC Aktobemunaigas, the Aktobe regional government said, adding that firefighters were still working on putting out the fire.

However, the company said in a statement that the fire, which broke out during repair works at an internal gas pipeline, has already been extinguished, and production at the plant has resumed.

The Zhanazhol plant located in northwestern Kazakhstan is the country’s biggest producer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is widely used as a car fuel and for heating and cooking.

(Reporting by Vladimir SOldatkin and Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Alison Williams and Louise Heavens)