Focus shifts to who broke the pipeline
The extent of the pipeline damage which has crippled New Zealand air travel has been revealed by new photos.
Diagrammed photos show the damage believed to have been caused by a digger to Refining NZ’s 170km Marsden Point, Northland to Wiri, Auckland fuel pipeline.
Meanwhile, investigations into what action to take against those responsible, for causing last Thursday’s break resulting in 70,000 litres of jet fuel leaking, are about to begin.
The Northland Regional Council is soon to shift its priorities on to considering ‘‘further action’’ including ‘‘enforcement action’’.
A spokesman said the council had been busy helping clean up the fuel spill.
But ‘‘council’s focus in the coming week or two will shift towards investigation of the circumstances leading up to the leak’’, the spokesman said.
Earlier he said, the ‘‘council’s costs have not yet been tallied but obviously will run to at least several thousand dollars’’.
The Northland Regional Council has ‘‘refused to comment any further’’ on the details of its investigation.
Refining NZ believes a digger blade scored the 30cm pipe, scraping away an anticorrosion layer in an action that eventually led to the pipe breaking and the closure of the fuel line.
Auckland Airport was forced to cut airlines’ fuel allocations by 70 per cent, disrupting thousands of air travellers’ plans.
For a time some Auckland petrol stations also ran out of
95 octane fuel.
The airlines’ fuel allocations have now risen to
50 per cent of normal levels. Infrastructure NZ chief executive Stephen Selwood slammed the pipeline’s failure.
‘‘We’ve seen too many incidents like this right around the country, the Penrose motorway overbridge, powerline cuts . . .’’
The pipeline rupture would probably cost the economy ‘‘tens of millions’’ of dollars, Selwood said.
Auckland University law professor Bill Hodge believed Refining NZ, which estimates it has lost about $15 million because of the cut, could have a good case against whoever caused the leak.
Meanwhile, efforts to resupply Auckland airport’s fuel were ‘‘going so well’’ the navy tanker HMNZS Endeavour was being put back on standby, Energy Minister Judith Collins said.
‘‘Auckland Airport is returning to business as usual, with the expected number of cancellations today dropping,’’ Collins said yesterday.
Ground transport using road tankers from Marsden Point to Auckland was easing the effects of the damaged pipeline, she said.
The Auckland Council chief executive Dean Kimpton said fuel trucks would start transporting jet fuel from newly converted storage tanks on the city waterfront to the airport on Tuesday.
Parking restrictions would be put in place around the wharf, and people should keep ‘‘their eyes wide open’’ for increased trucking.
Permission had not so far been sought to use Waterview Tunnel as a fuel transport route, Kimpton said.
Auckland Airport chief executive Adrian Littlewood said airport visitors should also take care.
Meanwhile, Refinery NZ anticipates the pipeline could still be repaired between Sunday and Tuesday.
Fuel industry representative Andrew McNaught said until the pipeline was repaired some Auckland petrol stations would continue for ‘‘short periods’’ to run out of certain fuel grades before re-stock.