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AG’s report warned of pipeline disasters
View(s):Months before last week’s oil leak into the Muthurajawela lagoon, the Auditor General’s Department had warned of the likelihood of a major disaster arising from the poor condition of other pipelines conveying fuel from ships to storage tanks.
“The possibility of paralysing the whole country with a severe fuel crisis due to transporting the imported finished petroleum products through those deteriorated pipelines cannot be ruled out in audit,” the Department’s 2014 Annual Report says.
Thousands of litres of jet fuel being carried through a pipeline to the Muthurajawela oil installation seeped into the picturesque lagoon causing heavy environmental damage. Cleanup operations are continuing. The Auditor General’s report warns strongly about the condition of those pipelines carrying finished petroleum products such as petrol and diesel from the Colombo Port to the Kolonnawa petroleum installation. These pipelines were installed several decades ago and are now in a state of disrepair.
“…it was revealed that some of them have already been abandoned due to the deteriorated condition beyond repairs,” the report states. “Renovation and modernisation of those pipelines have been a very urgent need, as a large quantity of the national requirement of the petroleum products is being carried into the Kolonnawa fuel storage terminal through those deteriorated pipelines.”
Separately, the report says the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) 45-year-old oil refinery is unable to cater to increasing demand for petroleum products. It calls for the proposed Sapugaskanda modernisation and expansion project to be expedited.