Energy Ministry Teams Inspect Tishreen Power Station After Fire
Energy Minister Mohammad Al-Bashir announced that authorities have achieved full control over the fire that broke out at the Tishreen power station. Civil defense teams remain on-site to conduct cooling operations, a necessary safety measure that must be completed before technical teams can begin their inspection.
This cooling phase is the essential first step to allow specialists to access the site. Their objective is to perform a thorough field inspection to accurately determine the extent of the physical damage to the facility and to identify the specific causes of the blaze.
Speaking from the scene of the incident, Minister Al-Bashir explained that the Tishreen station was effectively taken out of service following the interruption of gas supplies, which resulted from an explosion on the pipeline feeding the plant. The incident coincided with the Deir Ali power station also going offline, leading to a notable reduction in energy supplies across the network.
Regarding the scale of the damage, the Minister noted that initial observations indicate the impact is concentrated primarily on gas transport lines, as well as several electrical cables and equipment associated with the plant. Al-Bashir stated that the turbines and other core components of the station have not yet been inspected due to the ongoing cooling efforts. He emphasized that a comprehensive evaluation of the damage will be released once this phase concludes, which will then pave the way for necessary maintenance and repair operations to restore the station to service as quickly as possible.
In a related context, the Energy Minister highlighted that work is currently underway to gradually increase pressure within the network following the completion of cooling operations. This is part of a preparatory plan to restart the Deir Ali station and resume its operations incrementally.
When questioned about the potential cause of the explosion at Tishreen, Minister Al-Bashir indicated that it is not yet clear whether the incident was the result of a technical malfunction, a targeted attack, or an act of sabotage. He stressed that the final findings will be issued by the relevant expert teams once they have finalized their field assessment.
Furthermore, the Minister addressed an incident that occurred two days ago involving the targeting of a gas pipeline in the Al-Shoula area of Deir ez-Zor. He explained that this attack was carried out using explosive materials that damaged a valve on the line. The Minister confirmed that the government is monitoring developments across all energy facilities and that ongoing investigations will uncover the specific circumstances and exact nature of the Tishreen station incident as soon as the technical teams complete their work.
Source: Syria Focus Arabic
