The OAO LUKOIL Press Service announces that on Saturday, December 17, 2011, the fire that broke out on December 15 at the Stavrolen Petrochemical Complex has been fully brought under control.

The monitoring data indicate that the environmental conditions at the Complex, and in the whole of Budennovsk, are normal. The Industrial Safety and Environment Service of the Complex, jointly with the laboratory of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage (Rosprirodnadzor), conduct a round-the-clock monitoring, with samples taken every 20 minutes.

The incident resulted in ethylene and propylene catching fire and decomposing, as a result, into water and carbon dioxide during combustion. Carbon dioxide is a substance which is neither toxic, nor explosive.

A board of enquiry, headed by a Rostekhnadzor representative, is now investigating the causes of the fire on the site.

OAO LUKOIL First Vice President Vladimir Nekrasov arrived at the site on December 16. “No threat is posed to the health of the Complex’s employees, or the residents of Budennovsk and other neighboring settlements.  We intend to make up a response plan soon to mitigate the consequences and restore the operations”, Vladimir Nekrasov assured.