56,000 litres of diesel leaks out from BPCL pipeline at Kandla

Rajkot: Close to 56,000 kilo litres of high-speed diesel leaked out near Deendayal Port Trust (DPT) following an alleged pilferage attempt.
The leakage happened in the pipeline of state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) pipeline that originates at the oil jetty at the Kandla port on Sunday early morning. It took about 12 hours of constant effort by DPT’s fire department team to plug the leakage and suck the spilt diesel, officials said.
The spillage happened about two km from the port and officials denied that any diesel had flown into the sea.
No official complaint was lodged with the police in this regard.
According to sources, an attempt was made to pilfer the petroleum from the BPCL pipeline which is six km long connecting to the company’s terminal.
“A puncture was made in the pipeline at around 6am on Sunday. However, a guard of BPCL found this leakage and immediately asked for help from port officials. The fire brigade team of DPT used a vacuum system that sucked the oil that was spilled on the ground and saved 56,000 kilo litres which is equivalent to five tankers,” a source in the know of the incident said.
Asim Chakraborty, fire officer of DPT and two station officers Devendra Gujar and Edward had controlled this leakage along with BPCL officials.
BPCL officials said: “We believe that there was an attempt of oil theft from the pipeline but there is no concrete evidence, so we have initiated an internal investigation of the incident. There is no oil spill in the sea and there is no environmental concern. We have to ascertain the wastage quantity but it could be around 1,000 litres.”