Oil spills into Sanghar crops

OGDCL pipeline passing through village explodes, causing oil to spill in nearby fields.

SANGHAR: An Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) pipeline passing through a village in Sanghar district exploded Monday night, causing at least 4,000 barrels of oil to spill into nearby fields.

A fire also erupted after the explosion and damaged crops of sugarcane, cotton and wheat spread over several acres. The leak developed in Ghandan village within the jurisdiction of Jhol police station.

Residents of the village reached the site and managed to control the fire while OGDCL technicians struggled to fix the leak. After some time the pipeline was fixed but the company has yet to lodge an FIR against the alleged bandits.

Residents accused a group of thieves of causing the explosion in their attempts to steal oil. Residents believed that the landlord of the village, certain police officials and the employees of OGDCL are all involved in the ‘oil theft mafia’.

How the oil travels

Oil is extracted from underground in a field in Chak No. 5, near Sanghar. Once extracted, the oil is supplied to its destination through OGDCL pipelines, which pass through Jhol, Mangli, Nauabad and Sanjhoro.

The alleged group of oil thieves develop leakages in the pipeline in deserted areas and fill tankers. The bandits work at different times during the day but they prefer to work in the middle of the night. The stolen oil is then sold in the cities.

According to an OGDCL employee, one tanker has a capacity to hold as much as 44,000 litres of oil and it takes four hours to fill one. In case there is a valve installed in the pipeline, the tanker can fill up in an hour as well.

The government has so far lost billions of rupees through oil theft from pipelines in different areas. Jhol police station alone has registered at least 10 such cases but so far only one police constable has been arrested. A police official said that several influential people are also involved in this illegal trade.

Two months ago, a similar oil spill took place in Jhol and two men died while several others were severely burnt. Since the injured men were involved in the theft, they escaped from the site and only three were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2010.