Following the massive fire that engulfed its pipeline at Osisioma, in Aba, Abia State, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has ordered its subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, to resort to trucking of products to avert shortage of products in the region.
The NNPC had on Thursday night, reported that its oil pipeline along the Osisioma axis near Aba Depot was on fire. The fire affected its System 2E pipeline network.
The corporation suspects the incident might have been caused by oil thieves who had hacked into the line to intercept flow of petrol from Port Harcourt to Aba.
NNPC group general manager, group public affairs division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, confirmed fatalities and loss of properties in the ensuing inferno, but did not give figures.
Ughamadu said the corporation’s safety experts, along with men of the Abia State Fire Service, had swung into action to contain the situation, saying updates on the situation would be provided as events unfold.
Reacting to enquiries late yesterday, Ughammadu told newsmen that several buildings and lives were lost and actual figures are being compiled in collaboration with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence, NCSDC.
Ndu said as an interim measure, the corporation has ordered PPMC to resort to trucking of products to ensure it has minimal effects on distribution efforts.
NNPC group managing director, Dr Maikanti Baru, expressed shock at the wanton willful destruction of lives and properties occasioned by the incident.
The GMD prayed that God reposes the souls of the innocent ones that perished in the incident, even as he warned members of the public against tempering with oil and gas facilities, many of which he said were inflammable.
Dr Baru called on host communities to create avenues to moderate criminal tendencies of a few bad eggs living among them.
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