Click to view full size

En­er­gy Min­is­ter Dr Roodal Mooni­lal says the re­cent oil spill along the Mara­bel­la Bayshore orig­i­nat­ed from a com­pro­mised sec­tion of an aged 12-inch trunk pipeline, and he has called for a com­pre­hen­sive re­view of the coun­try’s pipeline in­fra­struc­ture.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia af­ter at­tend­ing an en­er­gy sym­po­sium at Cara Suites Ho­tel yes­ter­day, Mooni­lal said that be­cause of the age of the pipeline, there could be more leaks in the fu­ture if it is not re­placed.

“We be­lieve the source of the spill comes from an aged pipeline. We are now re­quest­ing a crit­i­cal as­sess­ment of the pipeline in­fra­struc­ture,” he ex­plained. The spill, which oc­curred ear­li­er this month near the New City com­mu­ni­ty in Mara­bel­la, prompt­ed emer­gency clean-up ef­forts and tem­po­rary re­lo­ca­tion of res­i­dents.