An explosion hit a natural gas pipeline near a village in northern Siberia late on Wednesday but there were no casualties, Tass news agency cited a local official as saying.
The blast occurred near Pelym, which is around 430 km north of the Siberian energy hub of Tyumen. Tass said the pipeline caught fire after the explosion but gave no details.
"There were no casualties. When the depressurisation occurred, the gas pipeline section had been turned off for repairs and was not involved in gas transportation," Tass cited Gazprom as saying.
"Consumers are being fully supplied with gas via parallel pipelines," it said, adding the cause of the incident was unknown. Tass had earlier cited a local official as saying the pipeline caught fire after an explosion.
