Indian Oil finishes Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline repair to stop pilferage

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) has repaired and restored the Mathura-Delhi section of its Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline, where an instance of illegal tapping was detected on February 17, 2017, and put it back into service the same night to ensure uninterrupted transport of petroleum products.

Early morning on February 17, IOCL’s security guards patrolling the RK Puram area of Mathura district found illegal tapping of the pipeline being carried out through a 15-foot deep tunnel. An FIR has been logged with the police immediately and the case is under investigation.

Indian Oil owns and operates a 12,500-km network of crude oil, product and gas pipelines, of which the Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline, spanning about 535 km, transports finished products from its Mathura refinery to various consumption centres of Delhi, UP, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Punjab. With a throughput capacity of 3.7 million tonnes per annum, the pipeline traverses via Delhi-Panipat-Ambala and terminates at Jalandhar.

Illegal tapping of petroleum pipelines is a global menace and pipeline operators have been adopting various measures to curb the same. Indian Oil too has taken up several measures such as day-and-night patrolling by security guards; round-the-clock online monitoring of pipeline pressure & flow conditions; installation of leak detection systems; surprise patrolling by senior officers; etc. IOCL is also seeking the help of the local administration and police in curbing instances of pipeline tapping and pilferage. Despite multiple measures being in place, there have been sporadic instances of miscreants resorting to pilferage and illegal tapping of pipelines.

“Contrary to media reports that the illegal tapping was going on for many months, it is hereby clarified that no pressure variation was observed in the pipeline system in the past, except on three occasions this month. It is also not correct that oil worth crores of rupees has been stolen from the pipeline, as mentioned in some sections of the media. As per preliminary oil accounting done by the company internally, only a negligible quantity might have been pilfered,” said IOCL in a press release yesterday.

Indian Oil Corporation