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Annex J2: Major international crude oil spills involving pipeline/storage tank/ onshore wells
Date Location Company
2013 21 Nov Qingdao, China
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Sinopec • pipeline ruptured; leaked for about 15 min onto a street and into the sea before being shut off; hours later, as workers cleaned up the spill, the oil caught fire and exploded in two locations • direct cause of the explosion: vapours from oil leaking from an underground pipeline ignited by sparks from a hydraulic hammer • 62 dead; 136 injured • 18,000 residents evacuated • oil spread across 3,000 square metres in
Jiaozhou Bay and Yellow Sea • losses of more than $122.7 million • [AFP, 2014; Reuters, 2013, Zhu, 2015]
2010 20 Dec
2010 17 Jul San Martin Texmelucan
Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) • blasts at pumping station caused by illegal taping into high-pressure pipe • at least 28 people killed; at least 52 people injured; 5,000 people evacuated; 32 houses destroyed; 83 houses damaged [Seattle Times, 2010]
port of Dalian, China
China National petroleum, Corp • explosion of two petroleum pipelines and subsequent fire in the port • cause: improper injections of strongly oxidizing desulfurizer into the oil pipeline • fatalities • 1,500 thousand tons of oil released into the
Yellow Sea, spread over 430 km2 of sea and coast line; economic and ecological damage • [CBSNews, 2010; Watts, 2010]
2008 16 Mar
2008 16 May 2007 Jan
2006 26 Dec DongesRefinery, LoireAtlantique, France
Ijegun, Nigeria
Ambès (Gironde, France)
Abule Egba, Nigeria
Total Raffinage Marketing • pipe leak caused a spill of an estimated 400 tonnes of heavy fuel oil (IFO 380) during the loading of a vessel • temporary ban on fishing; shoreline pasturage damaged • fine: €300,000 • [Cedre, 2014]
Vermilion Emeraude Rep; operated by the Société Pétrolière du Bec d’Ambès (SPBA) • crude oil storage tank at oil storage depot gave way; 13,500 m3 of Aquitaine crude oil, released, creating a wave effect causing some 2,000 m3 of oil to spill over the top of the retention tank; nearly 2 km of marshland trenches and channels contaminated; water table reached; 50 m3 reached Garonne River • over 10 km of river bank polluted • €30,000 fine for SPBA; a €5,000 fine for the company's former Managing Director [Cedre, 2014]
Description
• bulldozer struck and ignited pipeline
Consequences
• more than 100 killed [Connors, 2008]
• thieves rupture pipeline • at least 260 killed; 60 injured; number of houses, a mosque and a church destroyed [BBC, 2006a]
Date Location Company Description
2006 13-15 Jul Lebanon, 30 km south of Beirut
Jieh electric power • bombings in southern Lebanon hit the Jieh electric power plant; part of the heavy fuel oil burned. • 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of unburned fuel oil IFO 150 (Intermediate Fuel Oil with a viscosity of 150 cSt at 50°C) spilled onto the shoreline; pollution impacted almost half of the 200 km of Lebanese coastline [Cedre, 2006]
2006 12 May
2004 14 Sep Atlas Creek Island, Nigeria
near the city of Beiji, Iraq
• vandals drilled holes into pipeline, explosion resulted • at least 150 killed • police investigation and increased protection for other pipelines ordered [BBC News, 2006b]
• saboteurs attacked a location where several pipelines meet to cross the Tigris river • burning crude oil escaping from the fractured pipelines ran downhill into the river; fire took three days to control [Cedre, 2014]
2003 22 Jun Abia, Nigeria
• siphoning fuel from a ruptured pipeline which was ignited by a spark • at least 105 killed [BBC News, 2003]
2000 Jul
1998 Oct Warri, Nigeria
Jesse, Nigeria
Nigerian Petroleum Corp • scavengers intentionally ruptured the pipeline with their tools and ignited the blaze • 1,082 killed; fire burned for a week • [Reuters, 2008; Okpo, 2012]
1992 2 Mar Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan (Mingbulak oil spill)
• blowout at well no. 5; oil released and burned for two months; releasing 150,000 B/D, the flow of oil stopped of its own volition
Note: References BBC News, 2006 and Reuters, 2008 gives listing of additional Nigerian pipeline accidents.
Consequences
• at least 300 killed [BBC News, 2006, allafrica, 2000]
• total of 285,000 tons of oil released; 320,000 m3 collected behind emergency dykes • [Beckworth, 2012]
References:
AFP (2014) Chinese Oil Giant Sinopec To Pay Big Over
Pipeline Blast That Killed More Than 60 People,
Agence France Presse Jan. 13, 2014, 6:38 AM. [http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-oil-giantsinopec-to-pay-big-over-pipeline-blast-that-killedmore-than-60-people-2014-1]
Allafrica (2007) Nigeria: Death Toll in Nigeria Oil
Pipeline Inferno Rises to 300. [http://allafrica.com/stories/200007180160.html]
Beckwith R (2012) The Post-Macondo World: Two
Years After the Spill, J Petroleum Technology —
May 2012. [http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/display_arti cle.php?id=1043403]
BBC News (2003) Nigeria oil blast kills scores, BBC
News, published: 2003/06/22 19:54:26 GMT [http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//2/hi/africa/3009756.stm]
BBC News (2006a) Lagos pipeline blast kills scores,
BBC News 26 December 2006. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6209845.stm]
BBC News (2006b) Probe ordered after Nigeria blast,
BBC News13 May 2006. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4768159.stm]
CBS News (2013) Pipeline explosion in China, CBS
News July 17 2013. [http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/pipelineexplosion-in-china/]
Centre of Documentation, Research and
Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre, 2006) Lebanon [http://wwz.cedre.fr/en/Ourresources/Spills/Spills/Lebanon-conflict]
Centre of Documentation, Research and
Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre, 2014) Donges Reffinery, [http://wwz.cedre.fr/en/Ourresources/Spills/Spills/Donges-Refinery]
Centre of Documentation, Research and
Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre, 2014) Ambès. [http://wwz.cedre.fr/en/Ourresources/Spills/Spills/Ambes] Centre of Documentation, Research and
Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre, 2014) Sabotage in Iraq. [http://wwz.cedre.fr/en/Ourresources/Spills/Spills/Sabotage-in-Iraq]
China (2014) Major causes of Qingdao pipeline blasts identified, China.org January 9, 2014. [http://www.china.org.cn/china/201401/09/content_31140285.htm]
Connors W. (2008) 100 Feared Dead in Nigerian
Pipeline Fire, New York Times May 16, 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa /16nigeria.html]
Okpo OC (2012) Vandalization of Oil Pipelines in the
Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and Poverty: An
Overview, Studies in Sociology of Science 3(2):1321
Reuters (2008) TIMELINE: Deadly Nigerian pipeline disasters, Reuters May 15, 2008. [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeriapipeline-disasters-idUSL1566948020080515]
Reuters (2013) Police detain nine after Qingdao oil blasts: media, Reuters Nov 25, 2013. [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/uschina-sinopec-blasts-idUSBRE9AP02N20131126]
Seattle Times (2011) Thieves blamed in Mexico pipeline blast that kills 28, Los Angeles
Times and The Associated Press December 19 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110622095021/htt p://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/ 2013720317_pipeline20.htm]
Watts J (2010) China's worst-ever oil spill threatens wildlife as volunteers assist in clean up, The
Guardian, Wednesday 21 July 2010. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010 /jul/21/china-oil-spill-disaster-wildlife]
Zhu Y, Qian X, Liu Z, Ping Huang, Yuan M (2015)
Analysis and assessment of the Qingdao crude oil vapour explosion accident: Lessons learnt, J Loss
Prevention in the Process Industries 33: 289–303