Pipeline that leaked in use for 27 years: Sinopec

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Pipeline that leaked in use for 27 years: Sinopec

(Xinhua) 13:45, November 23, 2013

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Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the site of a pipeline explosion in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Nov. 22, 2013. A fire broke out and the blast occurred around 10 a.m. in the Huangdao District when workers were repairing a petroleum pipeline which broke and resulted in an oil leakage around 3 a.m. Casualties remained unknown. (Xinhua)

QINGDAO, Nov. 23 -- The pipeline that leaked crude oil and caused a deadly blast on Friday in east China's port city of Qingdao has been in use for 27 years, Sinopec said on its microblog Saturday.

Sinopec, operator of the pipeline and the country's largest oil refiner, refuted earlier media reports that the leaks occurred at a pipeline that went into operation in August.

The leaking pipeline, which has been in use since July 1986, measures 711 mm in diameter and runs 248.52 km, with an annual oil transfer capacity of 10 million tonnes, the company said on its microblog.

The blast, which occurred at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at an intersection in the city's Huangdao District, has killed at least 47 people, the local government said.

（Editor：HuangJin、Gao Yinan）