Fire in Southern Lebanon Oil Facility Burns 250,000 Liters of Gas

Firefighters extinguished a blaze that burned for several hours at a gasoline storage tank in southern Lebanon. The gasoline that burned on Monday at the Zahrani oil facility belonged to the Lebanese military. The fire is believed to have started when the gasoline was being moved from one tank to another, Reuters reported. It is not known if the fire was intentional or deliberate, however.  Energy minister Walid Fayad ordered an investigation into the fire.

It is estimated that 250,000 liters of gas were burned in the fire.

At least 25 fire trucks, which came from as far as Beirut, were used to put out the blaze. The oil facility is located near one of the country’s main power plants.

The fire comes as the country is in the throes of an economic crisis, which has seen the value of the Lebanese pound fall by about 90%, and has left it unable to import needed goods, including fuel.  It also comes after a weekend in which the country’s two main power plants were forced to shut down. The Deir Ammar and Zahrani power plants, which supply about 40% of the country’s electricity, shut down due to the shortage of diesel fuel in the country.  They were restarted on Sunday after a day that saw the country under a total blackout, after the army provided fuel to the power plants.