Oil leaking after power station blast

Officials are investigating the cause of an oil leak which occurred following a power station fire in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

An explosion ripped through Eraring station in the early morning of October 28th (local time) with such ferocity that it took firefighters four hours to tackle the blaze.

However, now attention has been turned to a leak which is causing transformer oil to spill into Lake Macquarie and the surrounding wetlands.

The lagoon has been closed for watersports and other activities while the clean up is in operation.

NSW energy minister Chris Hartcher said that the oil spill is not considered to be an environmental hazard, but warned that the cost to the state-owned power plant could be millions.

"The installation of two booms was effective, however there is evidence of some oil shimmer on the lake," he said.

Eraring general manager Peter Jackson said that the incident was under investigation as it was unclear what had caused the blast.