Bahrain Mirror (Reuters): Bahraini authorities had brought under control a fire at an oil pipeline caused by an explosion, the civil defence said in a statement on Saturday.

State-run Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) closed the flow of oil to the stricken pipeline, the civil defence added in the statement, published on the interior ministry's website.

Residents close to the incident near Buri village, some 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the capital Manama, were being evacuated to a safe shelter, the statement added.

It was not clear what caused the blaze but a Reuters witness said there was a large fire which burst the pipeline.

Bahrain relies on the Abu Safa oilfield for the majority of its oil. It shares the field with Saudi Arabia.

Oil to Bahrain is transported via the 55 km A-B pipeline which has a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day (bpd).

A new 350,000-barrels per day oil pipeline between the two countries will be completed next year and will serve the planned expansion of Bahrain's refinery capacity.

Arabian Light crude oil will flow from Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq plant via the 115-km new pipeline, 73 km of which will run overland and the rest under the Gulf.

Arabic version