Vandals stall pipeline repairs at Arepo – PPMC

The vandals attacked PPMC officials who were fixing the broken pipelines.

Armed men, Thursday, attacked government oil officials who were trying to carry out repairs at a sabotaged oil pipeline in Arepo, Ogun State.

A top official of the Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC) said two technical personnel of the company were attacked by the armed men.

The official, who did not want to be named said this on Friday.

“Two staff who were carrying out the repairs were injured by the vandals who exchanged gunshots with security personnel,’’ the source said.

“We planned to fix the damaged pipelines to restore the pumping of petroleum products into the system, but our staff were attacked and they are currently receiving treatment ,” he added.

He said that the PPMC staff sustained injuries when the vandals engaged security agents in a shoot-out.

The official explained that security personnel were deployed to the area to provide security cover and to ensure the restoration of effective pumping of petroleum products.

The source, however, assured that the PPMC personnel would  continue repairs on the damaged pipelines during the weekend.

The PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), shut down its System 2B petroleum products network lines on August 31 due to a pipeline explosion that occurred on the night of August 30 at Arepo.

The NNPC said the explosion was caused by vandals who damaged the pipeline to siphon petroleum products from the pipe.