Fire stops pumping via pipeline, Transneft says exports unaffected

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (PRIME) -- Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has stopped oil pumping via the Kuibyshev–Tikhoretsk pipeline as fire followed a spill, but the company said on Thursday that the incident had no impact on exports because a storm in the port of Novorossiysk prevented exports anyway.

“An oil spill happened at the 413th kilometer of the Kuibyshev–Tikhoretsk pipeline at about 3.30 p.m. Moscow time. Preliminary outflow of oil amounted to about 900 cubic meters, oil spilled along the road in a narrow line of about 1.5 kilometers. The other end of the spill came close to the outskirts of a village. The fire broke out because of an unknown reason,” Igor Dyomin, advisor to the president of Transneft, told PRIME.

“The oil pipeline’s work has been stopped, it is difficult to define the possible downtime. Usually, the restoration of pumping takes two to three days. However, the port of Novorossiysk is idle right now either way (due to a storm), so we foresee no problems with export handling of oil.”

A representative of the central regional department of the Emergency Ministry told PRIME that the burning oil set afire four houses in a village that was located near the pipeline, of which three houses were residential. All 12 inhabitants of the village were evacuated. Emergency services put out the open fire at the pipeline and at the houses quickly, the representative said.

A source in the emergency authorities of the region told PRIME that the diameter of the Kuibyshev–Tikhoretsk pipeline amounted to 820 millimeters, and a total of 2,000 cubic meters spilled out of the pipeline. The area of the fire comprised about 1,000 square meters, the source said.

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