Nine Persons Injured in Another Pipeline Fire
...Diesel price hits N135 per litre
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku and Fidelia Okwuonu, 05.27.2008
Nine persons were severely burnt yesterday as a vandalised pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Mosimi, Ogun State caught fire.
This is coming as the price of diesel has risen to a record high of about N135, a development that has adversely affected industrial and vehicular operations.
Those who sustained varying degrees of burns in the latest incident, which affected the Mosimi-Ibadan line, included five riot policemen attached to the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and four community security guards.
The damaged pipeline supplies products to Ibadan and Ilorin depots, raising fears of imminent products shortage.
But PPMC spokesman, Mr. Raph Ugwu, has allayed fears of any product scarcity, saying the depots have tanks with capacity to hold products for so many days. He said whenever there were pipeline breakages, products would be supplied from the storage tanks pending when repair works were completed.
Besides, he said the repair of Ijegun pipeline, which was damaged in the wake of a recent explosion, had been completed and that products supply through the pipeline had commenced.
Narrating the incident, he said PPMC officials were alerted in the early hours of yesterday that vandals had broken a portion of the Ibadan-Mosimi pipeline and were scooping fuel from it.
Following the tip-off, he said the policemen headed for the scene in company with the community guards.
According to him, on sighting the operatives, the vandals opened fire on them, a development, which he said sparked the inferno.
He said the injured operatives were currently hospitalised, while plans had commenced for the fixing of the pipeline. He affirmed that the fire was finally put out in the afternoon.
The Minister of State for Energy, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), had during his facility visit to the Atlas Cove last year, said the greatest challenge confronting the industry was the vandalism of its pipelines.
He said the ministry might consider burying the pipeline deep in the ground to prevent easy access.
He regretted that the huge amounts of money, which could have been spent on developmental projects, were being expended on demurrage incurred on vessels carrying imported fuel.
Meanwhile, to stem the rising cases of pipeline vandalism, as well as recurring incidences of pipeline explosion, the Federal Government, THISDAY learnt is at the final stage of awarding the contract for the laying of the pipelines 20 feet deep in the ground.
The new pipeline laying technique, Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), it was learnt, would require replacement of existing pipes with special ones, which will make them maintenance- free for so many years.
The Atlas Cove-Mosimi line has been selected for the pilot test, which will commence soon.
The choice of Atlas Cove-Mosimi line, sources said was informed by its vulnerability, coupled with the fact that the line is used for evacuation of imported products.
With the new technique, it is believed that cases of pipeline vandalism will become a thing of the past, as vandals will no longer have access to the pipelines.
Less than two weeks ago, a ruptured NNPC pipeline at Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos, had exploded, claiming 16 lives and property worth millions of naira.
The incident occurred, when a Lagos State Government contractor‘s earth-moving equipment working on the Isolo-Ijegun road project, unknowingly ruptured the pipeline, which passes through the area to Mosimi depot in Ogun State.
However, industrialists have continued to groan over the escalating diesel price, which was attributed to poor performance by the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.
Some independent marketers told THISDAY yesterday that the refineries were performing below capacity and had been unable to produce both Premium Motor Spirit (PMC) and Diesel at the same time.
According to the sources, the independent marketers had tankers stationed for weeks at both refineries, but had not been able to load owing to non-availablity of stock.
They revealed that only a few marketers were currently selling, because they had some in stock. They raised fears that the situation might become worse when those currently selling ran out of stock.
