BajaNews - 2-11-2011 at 04:13 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/09/mexico-oil-spill-i...
By Lizbeth Diaz
Feb 9, 2011
ROSARITO, Mexico, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Thieves tapping into a Mexican fuel pipeline triggered a large diesel fuel spill south of the border city of
Tijuana in Baja California state on Wednesday, authorities said.
A senior source at the state emergencies agency, which has dealt with a number of fuel spills in recent years due to criminal activity, described the
incident as serious.
"There cannot be less than 50,000 liters (13,000 gallons) spilled," the official said, declining to be named since he was not authorized to comment on
the size of the spill.
"We've never seen anything like this."
A Reuters witness saw a three-foot (1 meter) stream of fuel flowing on hilly ranch land a few miles (kilometers) from Rosarito.
Police prevented people from approaching the pipeline but bulldozers could be seen working furiously to build huge piles of earth to contain and
absorb the flow of fuel. The odor of petroleum was extremely intense.
Gangs of fuel thieves regularly tap into Pemex pipelines to steal gasoline, diesel fuel and even crude oil.
The lucrative trade has attracted Mexico's brutal drug cartels, which earn money protecting fuel thieves and helping them smuggle oil out of the
country.
Thirty people died in December when a suspected illegal connection on a crude oil pipeline east of Mexico City caused a massive spill that caught fire
and exploded.
State oil monopoly Pemex said in a press release it was responding to the spill and that it posed no risk to bodies of waters or urban areas.
The 10-inch (25-centimeter) diameter pipeline carries fuel from a Pemex terminal in Rosarito to the city of Mexicali.
Pemex did not say how much fuel leaked from the pipeline.
The company claims it has cut the amount of oil that is stolen through better monitoring of its pipeline network even though the number of illegal
connections has skyrocketed to more than 700 a year.
bajadock - 2-11-2011 at 06:11 PM
Above photo is from El Mexicano of workers damming the spill.
This story was buried in El Mexicano and still not found in El Vigia. Perhaps the regular tapping of Pemex pipelines is kept quiet for a reason?
Thanks, Doug.