Report

Subject:                   Various news Stories

Date of Email report:   Mon 19/05/2008

Report Detail:

Africa - School children among 100 killed in Nigerian pipeline explosion

  
More than 100 people, including many school children, have been killed in yet another fuel pipeline explosion in Ijegun, near Lagos, in Nigeria.  The incident occurred when an earthmover ruptured a pipeline carrying diesel and ignited a huge fire, which engulfed 16 buildings in the area, including homes and schools.

Many of the victims were killed in the stampede as people fled the area to get away from the massive fire. Doctors at the Ikeja General Hospital have been battling to save the lives of victims who sustained first-degree burns. Several others said to have sustained minor burns were treated in several government hospitals in the state.  Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for a review of Nigeria's fuel supply management after an oil pipeline exploded in a crowded Lagos suburb in December 2006, killing 269 people. The explosion happened after locals attempted to recover fuel from an underground pipeline punctured by thieves in order to siphon fuel into a tanker. This latest explosian brings the total number of deaths from pipeline explosions and fires since 2000 in Nigeria to more than 1200.

USA - One dead in bio-deisel plant explosion

One man is dead after a powerful explosion around noon on Sunday at the bio-diesel plant in Princess Anne. "I hear this blast and I run back there, it like blew me right off my deck," said Samuel Cottman, who lives only about one-hundred feet from the plant. "I run back there and I seen all this smoke and dust flying. And I got back there and a guy was running around in the yard saying, 'Oh my buddy is dead, my buddy is dead.'"

Police say two workers believed to be from Michigan were working on a methane line inside the plant when the explosion occurred. One worker was killed. The other was said to be alert and conscious prior to being taken to PRMC, but his condition is not known. Police say there was no spill or leak and that surrounding residents are safe. Princess Anne Police Chief Scott Keller said, "It did bow the walls of the building out and bubble the roof up so it was quite a powerful explosion. But there's no environmental concerns at all at this time."

Cottman and many of his neighbors say spills, leaks, and explosions aren't things they should ever have to worry about. "They had no business putting that plant there in the first place. It's too close to the neighborhood."

USA - Valero refinery Corpus Christi  - yellow plume envelopes security guard

A large plume of yellowish smoke was seen coming from the Valero Refinery, Sunday evening. The smoke came from the Valero East refinery plant, just after 6 o'clock. Valero representatives tell 3 News, the smoke was released after starting up a unit that processes light oil, and the public was never in any danger. However, a security guard who was having trouble breathing, was hosed down by Corpus Christi fire fighter with water, stripped of his clothing, and taken to the hospital, as a precaution.  Air samples were taken, and both Corpus Christi fire fighters and Valero representatives say the public was not in any danger, within a half hour, the smoke dissipated.

Scotland - INEOS Grangemouth fire delays start-up

Scotland's Grangemouth refinery, which closed due to a two-day strike last month, was forced to delay its return to full production after a fire broke out on Saturday, the plant's operator and the fire service said. A spokesman for the refinery's operator Ineos said the site was operating at roughly 80 percent of capacity when the fire broke out in the diesel line. "It is expected to extend the timing of the restart at the site," Ineos communications manager Richard Longden said by telephone on Saturday. The 200,000 barrels per day refinery was shut down late last month because of a two-day strike over proposed changes to pension arrangements. Ineos was aiming for full production in the coming weeks and was working out a schedule of talks with the union. Longden declined to specify whether the unit affected by the fire was still operating. A spokesman for the Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service said the fire broke out when some oil spilt on to pipework. "As far as we are aware it was the hydrocracker," the spokesman said, referring to a unit that produces diesel and jet fuel. The fire was quickly extinguished by the refinery's emergency team. An investigation is being carried out to determine the precise cause. Ineos shut the refinery for safety reasons during the two-day strike, disrupting fuel supplies to the region and forcing the closure of the North Sea Forties pipeline. Its operations depend on Grangemouth infrastructure. The Forties pipeline was not affected by Saturday's fire, Longden said. The fire could exacerbate concerns about a shortage of diesel, heating oil and related fuels known as middle distillates in Europe. BP, the refinery's former owner and a key wholesale supplier to the surrounding region, was a heavy buyer of diesel and heating oil on European spot markets in the days following the strike. The refinery is heavily focused on production of diesel for British markets, where motorists are rapidly switching over from gasoline-(petrol) fuelled cars.

USA - OSHA Investigating Oil Rig Death near Stanley

Thursday's deadly oil rig accident has captured the attention of a major governement agency The Occuaptional Safety and Health Administration or OSHA is investigating the oil rig accident that killed a Montana man. Mountrail County authorities say 21-year-old Nathaniel Zinn, of Chinook, Montana, died Thursday afternoon, at a rig site about 11 miles south of Stanley  Sheriff Ken Halvorson says Zinn fell after removing a clamp bolt, leading to excessive gas pressure that blew apart some of the equipment. Zinn was pronounced dead at the scene The sheriff's office and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the death. OSHA area director Bruce Beelman said Zinn's death marks the 11th death of a worker in North Dakota's oil patch in the past 10 years.