100716　中国　大連の石油パイプラインで大規模な火災China Blasts hit oil pipelines in NE China

China Daily　http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2010-07/19/

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/17/

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/18/

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2010-07/17/content_10118595.htm

Oil tanks safe after pipeline explosion

and 44-hour blaze

（要約）　中国、遼寧省大連の港地区にある石油パイプライン 2か所で 16日午後 6時ごろ、爆発火災が発生した。この爆発の後、3度の小規模な爆発があり、その後大連の石油タンクに引火した。この火災に対し、中国政府は広範囲から救援部隊を送り、消防車 100台以上、消防隊員 2000以上で消火活動に当たった。火災は約 44時間後に消火された。幸い、死傷者は報告されていない。今回の火災により、黄海 50平方キロメートルにわたり石油が流出し、また石油タンクの半径 1.2kmでは高い炭化水素濃度が計測され、自然環境と住民、漁業などに多大な被害が出ることが予測される。爆発のあった石油パイプラインは、海上の石油タンカーから地上の石油コンビナートに石油を移し替えるためのものであり、爆発発生時は、ちょうどタンカーから石油タンクへ石油を降ろしていたところであった。海上の石油タンカーには被害は無く、爆発後すぐに沖に避難していた。

Firemen use water to cool down the equipment and pipelines near

Dalian's Xingang Harbor, Northeast China's Liaoning province on July

18, 2010 after an oil pipeline exploded at 6 pm on July 16, 2010,

triggering another blast at a smaller pipe nearby. The fire was

eventually put out after 2 pm on July 18 and the scene declared safe

after assessment by experts.

Firemen use water to cool down the equipment and pipelines near

Dalian's Xingang Harbor, Northeast China's Liaoning province on July

18, 2010 after an oil pipeline exploded at 6 pm on July 16, 2010,

triggering another blast at a smaller pipe nearby

DALIAN - Workers rushed to contain an oil spill covering up to 50

square kilometers from seeping further into the Yellow Sea on Sunday,

two days after an explosion at an oil storage port in Dalian, Liaoning

province.

An oil pipeline exploded at 6 pm on Friday near Dalian's Xingang

Harbor, triggering another blast at a smaller pipe nearby, Xinhua

News Agency reported

Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC),

caught fire. Firefighters put out the blaze at the larger pipeline at

around midnight. But at least five subsequent explosions fueled the

fire at the smaller pipeline.

More than 2,000 firefighters fought the blaze and most of the fire was

put out on Saturday morning, 15 hours after the initial explosion,

Xinhua reported.

The local fire department was still cooling down affected oil tanks on

Sunday to prevent any further risk of fire.

No deaths were reported in the fires.

The first blast occurred on Friday evening when a Liberian oil tanker

was offloading oil, Chen Zhigang, an officer with the frontier station in

Xingang Harbor, told China Daily.

An inspection team was formed on Sunday morning to investigate the

blast but the cause of the accident has not yet been determined, said

Sun Benqiang, deputy chief of the municipal work safety bureau.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao issued instructions on

firefighting work.Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the scene on

Friday night to direct operations.

After the fires were extinguished, workers began using oil skimmers

and dispersants to contain the oil slick from spreading beyond the

port into the Yellow Sea.

By Sunday evening, about 7,000 meters of floating booms had been

set up and at least 20 oil skimmers were working to clean the spill,

the Liaoning provincial maritime safety bureau said.

The affected region is about 100 sq km offshore, bureau officials said.

Eleven square kilometers of the ocean in the area are "relatively

polluted", Wu Guogong, deputy director of Dalian's environmental

protection bureau, told China Daily.

CNPC vowed on Sunday to "do its best" to reduce the impact of the

explosion. Oil has stopped leaking into the sea as a valve has been

closed, it said.

Oil that spilled into the sea has been fenced off and contained, CNPC

said.

More than 20 air surveillance points and 10 offshore surveillance

points are also monitoring the situation, Wu said.

There are no residents within 3 km of the affected site and there is

"very limited" marine farming in the area, Wu said.

Still, nearby fishermen told Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV that they

are deeply concerned about how the incident will affect their

businesses.

About 600 families live within 4 km from the affected site. Dalian's

downtown areas were also overshadowed by smog on Saturday. The

hydrocarbon density was high within a 1.2 km radius from the site of

the fire, local environment authorities said.

"Till now, the air quality has not exceeded the national warning

standard," Wu said, adding that the burning of the crude oil will give

out more than 40 kinds of noxious vapor.

Feng Lianyong, a professor with China University of Petroleum, said

that, compared with the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the

incident in Dalian is "much more controllable".

Based on media reports, Feng said improper operation during oil

uploading of a vessel might have caused the explosions. The blasts

will only affect the harbor rather than extensive maritime areas and

the reach can be seen and controlled, Feng said.

Like the scene of a 'Hollywood movie'

Xingang Harbor's Chen Zhigang said he was walking in the harbor's

playground when he heard "a horrible blast" on Friday evening.

"I thought it was an earthquake," he said. He spotted smoke billowing

200 meters away from where he stood and heard the roar of the fire.

Chen and his teammates reported the fire and helped evacuate ships.

All four foreign vessels including the Liberian tanker left the site

safely, he said.

Chen said the first fire truck arrived at the site three minutes after

they reported the blaze. Huge clouds of smoke hung over the harbor

on Saturday night, he said.

Wang Wei, 22, said he was having dinner when he and his fellow

firefighters were mustered. They arrived at the site of the fire before 7

pm. Wang said his right leg was burned badly in the blaze but he

stuck to his post throughout the night.

Another fireman, Xiao Gao, described the site of the explosion as a

"roaring inferno with flames of about 20 meters high".

"It was like the scene of a Hollywood movie," he said. "If you were

there, you would not have been sure of getting out alive."

An aerial view of the oil spill from an exploded oil pipeline near Dalian,

Northeast China's Liaoning province, July 17, 2010.

Blasts hit oil pipelines in NE ChinaDALIAN -- Blasts hit two oil pipelines in Dalian, a port city in northeast

China's Liaoning province, Friday.

An explosion first hit a 0.9 meter-diameter oil pipeline at about 6 p.m.

and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian

Xingang Harbor.

Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corp(CNPC),

caught fire and more than 400 firefighters and 110 fire engines are

working at the site.

Blaze of the larger pipeline has been extinguished by 11:30 p.m. but

more than 200 meters of the smaller one is still on fire as firefighters

failed to turn off its oil pump.

The government is sending special jets to transport fire foam for the

campaign.

An oil tank that was unloading oil in the harbor when the blast broke

out had left the scene unharmed.

The pipelines were links between oil ships and land tankers. Local

authorities are investigating the incident.