Oil executives punished over refinery accidents

THE head of China's largest oil producer was one of 64 people punished for four major accidents in northeastern Dalian City, including oil pipeline explosions in July last year that led to the country's worst oil spill.

Among the 64, 14, including officials from local firms that provided services to China National Petroleum Corporation's facilities when the explosions occurred, were suspected of criminal acts and had been handed over to judicial departments for criminal charges, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

Xinhua said that several top executives, including Jiang Jiemin, president of CNPC, also known as PetroChina, were given disciplinary punishments by the Communist Party or the government.

Disciplinary punishments from the Party could affect future promotions of those officials in their careers.

In the long list of executives under punishment, Wang Lihua, president of PetroChina International, also known as Chinaoil, PetroChina's oil trading arm, received an "administrative" demotion and a severe warning, according to the news agency.

Dalian, an oil and petrochemical hub, has since July last year come under the spotlight after a string of explosions and fires at oil facilities operated by PetroChina, CNPC's listed vehicle.

The other three accidents took place in October last year and July and August this year.

The July 16 explosions in 2010, the worst of the four accidents, happened during the transfer of crude oil from a ship to a storage tank, causing two massive explosions in the pipeline, which burst into flames and took firefighters more than 15 hours to extinguish.

One firefighter was killed.

The explosions forced the closure of the entire port for at least a week. The disaster caused economic losses of nearly 224 million yuan (US$35.27 million), Xinhua said.

Oil that leaked into the Yellow Sea, causing a 19-square-mile slick, led to ecological damage that would take 10 years to repair, Zhao Zhangyuan, of the China Researc! h Academ y of Environment Sciences, estimated in previous reports.

The government has said 1,500 tons of oil spewed into the sea but environmental group Greenpeace estimated the leak at up to 60,000 tons.

In August, CNPC removed the general manager of the Dalian refinery from his post following a second fire at the plant in less than two months.

The plant has a 400,000 barrels-per-day crude refining capacity, PetroChina's largest.


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