Fuel shortage fears as pipeline hit by blazes

A fire at the Kenya Pipeline Company terminal on Wednesday morning paralysed loading of fuel products as oil companies expressed fears of a petrol crisis in the country.

The fire follows another on Monday night in which 11 workers suffered burns.

Five of those injured are being treated at The Mater Hospital in Nairobi.

A manhole exploded into flames on Nanyuki Road, opposite OiLibya petrol station, near the Kenya Pipeline Company offices.

The accident, only a few hundred metres from the scene of the Sinai fuel fire in September in which more than 120 people died and another 160 injured, caused confusion and near-panic in Industrial Area. It was, however, quickly put out by the city fire brigade.(READ: 100 killed in Nairobi fuel fire)

The cause of the fire had not been officially established, but residents told the Nation that fuel has been leaking since Monday.

Dozens of ambulances from the police and various private companies rushed to the area as well as security officers.

Densely populated

A densely populated slum, Sinai, has grown on the pipeline, posing a permanent danger to those who live there.

On Wednesday, police beat back youths who had gathered at the scene of the fire, possibly in hope of scooping fuel, which is then sold cheaply to motorists.

The explosion disrupted businesses in nearby premises as workers and traders milled around the scene.

The fact that villagers were prepared to take the risk of scooping fuel barely two months after the Sinai tragedy is perhaps the strongest argument that the slum village and the accident-prone company cannot continue to co-exist without the loss of life.

On Wednesday some oil companies said KPC was not pumping fuel to their terminals.

“Nobody is loading fuel as no pump over is taking place and this is likely to cause a fuel shortage in different parts of the country,” a player in the oil industry, who talked to the Nation on condition that he is not named, said.

He said the problem was compounded by an alleged product contamination at KPC facilities in western Kenya, which had resulted in most firms loading their petroleum products from Nairobi.

“We are already experiencing outages due to the problem in western Kenya and what has happened here in Nairobi is likely to cause a crisis,” he said.

The KPC managing director, Mr Selest Kilinda, said the incident at the Nairobi depot should not cause any alarm. He said the fire broke out around 10am in one of the manholes.

“The insinuation that the fire came as we were pumping fuel is not correct. What we have established is that there was no petroleum gas in any of the manholes,” Mr Kilinda said, adding that the cause of the fire was not immediately established.

According to Mr Kilinda, the company does not pump fuel when there is any work on pipelines.

He, however, admitted there was work being done on the Hashi Energy Pipeline, which he said will not affect the pumping of the fuel to other marketers’ terminals when the operations resume.

KPC has not been pumping fuel to Nairobi for the last one-and-a-half days due to a power outage between Makindu and Nairobi, caused by vandalism of Kenya Power facilities.

But Mr Kilinda said there was enough stock in Nairobi to meet the country’s needs.

At The Mater Hospital, consultant surgeon Dan Ochiel said 11 patients were taken to the hospital on Monday night.

“We were able to accommodate five and the remaining were taken to other hospitals,” he said.

Dr Ochiel said that those admitted to the hospital had suffered 30 per cent burns and most of the injuries were on their faces and hands.

Mr Ernest Mutoka Sikoto, an employee of Weldon Contractors who is admitted at The Mater, said they were working on the pipeline around 1am on Monday when the accident occurred.

“Suddenly fuel started gushing out and we attempted to block it but it overwhelmed us before a fire broke out,” he said.