Government 'sitting on hands' over pipeline inquiry, says National

Friday, 14 September 2018

It is a year since the Auckland fuel pipeline broke, plunging Auckland airport into chaos and threatening petrol and diesel supplies.

A year on from the Auckland fuel pipeline leak that cancelled scores of flights from Auckland airport, the Government has yet to follow through with a promised independent inquiry.

Energy Minister Megan Woods planned to finalise the terms of reference for a review into the fuel crisis 'early in New Year', but acknowledged she had not yet taken a draft to the Cabinet.

That would happen in 'coming weeks', she said.

National Party energy spokesman Jonathan Young said the Government had promised an inquiry but was now 'sitting on its hands'.

* Inquiry ordered into Auckland fuel pipeline outage

* Refining NZ defends not re-testing Auckland fuel pipeline**

Labour first said an inquiry was warranted when it was in opposition, raising the question of whether a second fuel pipeline might be needed to improve the resilience of Auckland's fuel supply.

Woods has forecast that once an inquiry begins, it will probably take about nine months to complete.

Young said New Zealand couldn't afford to duplicate the infrastructure and the Government had probably come to realise that the private sector was best-placed to assess how best to address any risks.

National's state services spokesman Nick Smith criticised the Government's 'ever growing list of reviews and working groups' on Friday, saying there were currently more than 160 in train, costing $170 million.

A series of events appear to have culminated in the Auckland fuel pipeline rupture.

But Young said there was a difference between inquiries and working groups, and in any case the Government had this promised one.

Refining NZ blamed the pipeline failure on damage caused by an as-yet unidentified digger driver, likely prospecting for kauri logs, in or around 2014.

Several months later it emerged that the pipeline experienced an 'emergency shutdown' just two hours before it broke on September 14 – after a maintenance worker accidently triggered a fire alarm at a pumping station – which may have been the final straw.

Two of the three pumps that were installed part way along the pipeline then failed to restart when the refinery began pumping fuel back through the pipeline about 20 minutes later.

That caused a pressure rise at some points along the pipeline, including at Ruakaka where the already-weakened pipeline broke later that morning spilling 70,000 litres of jet fuel, according to a report engineers WorleyParsons provided to Northland Regional Council.

It also emerged that Refining NZ had increased the pressure of the pipeline the previous month.

WorleyParsons' report said the events following the emergency shutdown on September 14 increased the fuel pressure at the point where the pipeline subsequently ruptured by about 6bar to about 82bar.

That was still below the pipeline's newly-raised maximum-allowable operating pressure of 90bar.

National energy spokesman Jonathan Young holds a section of the stricken fuel pipeline.

Questions have been raised about whether annual tests of the cathodic protection on the pipeline could have provided clues that the pipeline had been damaged, prior to its failure.

In some applications, the routine testing of cathodic protection to ensure it is working can also detect damage to the coating of the metal it is protecting.

Investigators reported that an unidentified white powder had been forming at the point where the pipeline broke.

Refining NZ spokesman Greg McNeill said in April that the company engaged the country's 'foremost expert' on cathodic protection.

'Should the inquiry require further information about cathodic protection on the pipeline … then as the responsible operator of that pipeline we would gladly provide that information to the inquiry,' he said then.