Iran successfully contains oil leak

Authorities in Iran’s say they have managed to fully contain a leak in a key pipeline in the southern province of Khuzestan and clean the resulted slick in a neighboring river.

“The technical operation of changing the 16-inch crude line which had eroded and was leaking…was put back into permanent operation circuit,” head of Iran’s Oil Pipelines and Telecommunications Company (IOPTC) Eskandar Ansari told IRNA news agency.

Local boats and divers were employed to spot the exact location of the leak in the bed of the Bahmanshir River and, following various tests, the spilled oil was collected by absorbent chemicals and fence booms, he explained.

Ansari described the operation to contain the leak and clean the oil slick from the river surface and surrounding reed bed as cost-effective and quick.

The IOPTC director said the repaired 16-inch line supplies 110 barrels of crude per day to the key refinery in the southwestern city of Abadan.

The Abadan Refinery is one of the oldest refineries in the world and accounts for 25 percent of Iran’s domestic need for oil products by processing 410 barrels of crude per day.

The facility was seriously damaged during the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war against Iran but was repaired and once again operational in the spring of 1989.