Eastern China oil pipeline death toll rises to 55

The death toll from an explosion in a Sinopec Corp. oil pipeline in Qingdao in eastern China Friday rose to 55 on Monday. The blast called a blaze that took several hours to bring under control and halting operations at a major oil port, media and ship brokers said.

Qingdao is one of China's largest crude oil import terminals, supplying at least two major Sinopec refineries – the Qingdao plant and Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corp. – as well as many small, independent refineries.

A Chinese trader said the explosion would disrupt crude flows into China, because the blast involved a major pipeline supplying several refineries. European traders said crude and oil product purchases had been suspended.

The explosion in the underground pipeline caused a large hole to appear in the roadway above, and state television showed a truck that had fallen into it, with a residential apartment block in the background.

President Xi Jinping called on local authorities to "spare no effort to rescue the injured and strengthen safety to eradicate such incidents," state news agency Xinhua said.

The Huangdao oil terminal in Qingdao had stopped operations, ship brokers and a port official said.

The local government said on its microblog that the blast occurred at 10:30 a.m. as workers were trying to repair leaks in the pipeline. It said oil had spilled into the port and also caught fire.

However, a port official said, "The port was not affected by the pipeline blast, but tankers were told to sail away from the port as a safety precaution."

Sinopec confirmed on its microblog that the explosion was caused by a leak in the Huangwei crude oil pipeline. It said the fire was put out at 1 p.m.

"Early investigations showed the spilled oil flowed into the municipal grid, which caused the explosion," the local government said, giving no further details about the grid.

It said the oil spill had spread across 3,000 square meters of seawater.

Two pipelines at state oil giant PetroChina's storage site in Dalian exploded in 2010, causing a large oil spill and disrupting crude supply and oil product exports at its refineries for weeks.

A witness in the city said there was a power cut in the area lasting for about two hours after the blast.

The China International Marine Containers (CIMC) factory located nearby closed for a period to rehouse about 500 workers whose dormitories had been damaged.

"Ambulances were still operating after 1 p.m. Glass windows in our dormitories were broken. It's terrifying," said worker Zhao Kai.

Sinopec officials could not immediately be reached for comment, and it was unclear if there was any effect on the 240,000-barrel-per-day Sinopec Qingdao refinery, which receives imported crude oil cargoes from Huangdao port.

The affected crude oil pipeline connects Huangdao to the city of Weifang in the same province, Shandong.

Sinopec confirmed on its microblog that the explosion was caused by a leak in the Huangwei crude oil pipeline. It said the fire was put out at 1 p.m.

Reuters