ONGC loses 100 tonne crude oil after pipeline damage

The ONGC lost around 100 tonne of crude oil after a trunk pipeline belonging to the oil PSU was damaged in north Gujarat, where “L&T contractors” were laying optical fibre cables.

“ONGC Ahmedabad Asset has suffered severe damage to one of its trunk pipelines carrying crude oil from group gathering stations of Kalol field near village Saij in Gandhinagar district,” stated an official release from the company about the incident that occurred late evening on Thursday. The spillage occurred on the service road adjacent to a flyover over the Mehsana-Ahmedabad highway near ONGC’s Well Stimulation Services (WSS) plant.

“ONGC took prompt action and immediately stopped pumping oil in both North Kalol and South Kalol lines in order to avoid any further spillage,” the release added.

ONGC in its statement said the pipeline was damaged “during digging for laying optical fibre cable by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) contractors”. “The job of laying optical fibre underneath the service road in the operational area of ONGC was undertaken without prior information or permission,” the company added.