A fire was reported at 0530 hours in state gas utility GAIL India Ltd's pipeline that carries gas to Lanco's Kondapalli power plant near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. At least 15 persons are reported to have been killed in the fire which followed a blast. GAIL has shut the recently built 18-inch pipeline following the fire.

"The pipeline carried gas from our fields to consumers. Naturally if the pipeline is not there we have to shut some wells," ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Dinesh K Sarraf said. Production will not be impacted much, he said. ONGC Director (Onshore) Ashok Varma said the fire occurred a few hundred meters from ONGC's Tatipaka Refinery at Nagaram village in Amalapuram Mandal.

"Fields that fed gas into the pipeline will be impacted. Some wells are being shut," he said, adding that gas supplies will be restored once the pipeline is repaired. The pipeline where the incident occurred was a dedicated line carrying gas to Lanco's 1,466 MW Kondapalli power plant. Supplies to the plant are being arranged through alternate lines.

PTI