From Segun James in Warri, 12.29.2005

THISDAY checks revealed that four persons had been arrested by the Federal Task Force on NNPC pipelines the incident just as preliminary investigation suggested that the attackers might have used explosives to blow up the pipelines.

It was gathered that the deployment of troops began yesterday afternoon, the first major deployment in land area since the Federal Government put the military on red alert two weeks ago.

Sources informed yesterday that security operatives who swooped on the site soon after the fire was put out found evidence that some fire works were used to blow up the pipeline which was buried six feet underground.

The arrested persons, whose identities were kept under wrap, according to information, were picked up near the scene of the blast.

The development, it was gathered, forced the management of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, to meet local government officials and community leaders whose towns and villages border the pipelines Right of Way to discuss ways to prevent further damages, and attacks to the lines.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Engr. Funso Kupolokun, was scheduled to visit Warri yesterday to assess the situation.

It is already feared that the Northern part of the country may experience fuel shortages as the affected pipeline conveys petroleum products from the Warri refinery to the North through PPMC pump stations in Benin and Lokoja.

It would be recalled that a similar attack on the Escravos crude oil pipeline near Warri in 2003, led to the shut down of both the Warri and Kaduna refineries for more than two years, forcing the country to rely heavily on importation to meet its needs.

The Federal Government was also forced to deploy more troops to the Niger Delta last week after militants attacked a Shell pipeline in Opobo Channel near Port Harcourt last Tuesday. The attack has presently shut in 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production.

Shell said yesterday that while crude oil lifting was still going on at the Bonny Export Terminal, the force majeure placed on some cargoes because of the pipeline incident, was still in force.

A fresh wave of attacks were launched on oil facilities in the Niger Delta as unidentified persons Tuesday attacked and set fire to a petroleum products pipeline that runs across the Adeje community, near Warri in Delta State.

Huge balls of fire took over the horizon around the Adeje community following the explosion on the oil pipeline belonging to the PPMC, a subsidiary of NNPC. The pipeline conveys petroleum products from the Warri refinery to the Northern part of the country through PPMC pump stations in Benin and Lokoja.

THISDAY reported yesterday that the fire had occurred at several points on the pipeline almost simultaneously which, according to PPMC officials, was an indication that the facility might have been sabotaged.

Tuesday’s incident followed several other attacks on the same pipeline by vandals who used ocean-going barges and trailer tankers to siphon products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) from the line.