Global General

Mexico to spend $45m on maintaining pipeline

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-28 10:46

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's state oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which suffered a deadly pipeline explosion a week ago, will spend 550 million pesos ($45 million) on maintaining pipelines, a senior Pemex official said on Monday.

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Pemex has seen 600 thefts in its 11,000-km pipelines this year. One theft, in the central town of San Martin Texmelucan, triggered an explosion that killed 28 people and injured more than 50 others on Dec 19.

Pemex is just starting to computerize many pipeline management systems as part of a project, Francisco Fernandez Lagos, deputy director of Pemex's refining unit, told the El Economista newspaper.

The Scada project targets the links between Pemex's 10 main crude oil pipelines, three heavy oil ducts, and 34 multi-purpose pipelines. It will also upgrade monitoring software, which focuses on pressure drops in the network, usually a symptom of leaks.

Pemex detected the San Martin leak after the monitoring software reported a sharp decline in pressure on the pipeline that runs through the town.