Russia: Fuel Thieves' Pipeline Raid Pollutes Siberian Tundra

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

Russia: Fuel Thieves' Pipeline Raid Pollutes Siberian Tundra

Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Novy Urengoy, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, 29th November: Thieves stealing petrol-substitute fuel from a pipeline have polluted the west Siberian tundra with 30 tonnes of gas condensate.

Police at Novyy Urengoy say thieves used a saw to cut off a fitting used to mix oil and gas condensate at the ninth kilometre mark of the Novyy-Urengoy-Surgut pipeline on the night of 27th November.

Experts say it appears to have been an attempt to steal the fuel. Thefts of condensate direct from the pipeline have increased sharply in the Yamal-Nenets area in recent months.

Oleg Larev, chief of the police unit fighting organised crime there, said "around 100 tonnes of stolen gas condensate are brought to the Novyy Urengoy black market every night".

Detectives have already caught lorry drivers filling road tankers with fuel from the pipeline, but this is the first case of the pipeline being destroyed.

The thieves who struck this time were unable to fill a tanker this way and spilled condensate over 100 square metres of tundra.

http://ogj.pennnet.com/Content/cd_anchor_wire/1,1057,OGJ_7_NEWS_DISPLAY_4002,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 29, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ