Workers sit outside Durban’s Engen Oil Refinery after a fire broke out in the morning. File/Reuters

There was an explosion at South Africa’s second-largest crude oil refinery in Durban on Friday morning, a local metropolitan police official told Reuters, adding it was not yet clear whether there had been injuries or deaths.

A Reuters photographer saw several fire engines spraying foam onto the affected part of the refinery, which is operated by African energy company Engen.

Ambulances, metropolitan police and national police were on the scene.

An Engen spokesman said the company would issue a statement later. Engen is majority owned by Malaysia’s Petronas.

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According to Engen’s website, the Durban plant has a crude refining capacity of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd).

It was not immediately clear whether there had been any impact on the refinery’s production.

Africa’s most industrialised economy has six refineries, four using crude oil and two synthetic fuel as feedstock. It is a net importer of petroleum products.

The country’s third-biggest crude oil refinery, a 100,000 bpd facility operated by Astron Energy in Cape Town, was also rocked by an explosion earlier this year.

Reuters