Paradip: Hundreds of rubber-insulated oil pipes meant for Paradip-Haldia crude oil pipeline project were destroyed after a massive fire engulfed IOCL’s pipe stockyard in Odisha’s Paradip town on Monday.
According to sources, the blaze began at around 1.30 pm at zero point and soon spread to the storage area. Ten fire tenders were pressed into service and it took them almost 3 hours to douse the flames rising up to 30-ft height.
Senior IOCL officials and police personnel rushed to the scene to assess the situation. The exact cause of the fire mishap is yet to be ascertained, said Paradip ADM Niranjan Behera.
The destroyed materials were for a pipeline project, commissioned in 2009 with a budget of Rs 1,420 crore, and designed to carry 11 million tonnes of crude oil per year, linking Paradip with Haldia and Barauni refineries.