Pakistan Refinery Limited halts operations after Karachi rains damage oil pipelines

Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has shut down its operations, after heavy rains at Karachi washed away a portion of the Piles Bridge carrying the intra-city oil pipelines of the company.

“Due to the unusual heavy rain in Karachi on 25th August 2020 the rainwater has washed away a portion of the Piles Bridge carrying the intra-city oil pipelines of the company which connects Keamari Terminal to the Refinery at Korangi Creek for transportation of crude oil and product,” the company said on Wednesday.

The incident resulted in severely damaging the aforesaid oil pipelines, it added.

The company informed that though access to the site is difficult, they are assessing situation so that the magnitude of damage can be ascertained enabling them to take required measures regarding safety and continuity of Refinery Operations in the present situation, which may include temporary shut-down of Refinery Operations.

“Once a thorough assessment is completed, we will be able to estimate the time period for restoring the oil pipelines and take appropriate decisions accordingly,” the company said.

The development comes after the Met Office confirmed that the 36-year record of monsoon downpour was broken after the most amount of rainfall in Karachi’s PAF Faisal Base recorded up to 345 millimeters.

The 36-year record was broken after a record 345 mm downpour in Karachi’s PAF Faisal Base which was previously recorded up to 298.4 in 1984. Moreover, the most amount of rainfall up to 272 mm hit the Masroor Base in 2007, whereas, August 2020’s downpour was recorded up to 228.5 mm so far and it is still accumulating.