The pipeline that exploded on Saturday, June 22, 2019, in Oyigbo, Rivers State which led to the death of ten persons, belongs to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
A source in NNPC, who spoke in confidence this evening, stated the exploded pipeline was conveying Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from Port Harcourt to Aba, in neighbouring Abia State, before vandals tampered with it, leading to the explosion.
The top official of NNPC also insisted the pipeline was not that of the Anglo/Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, as widely reported.
While later speaking through the telephone from Lagos, the Media Relations Manager of SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, stated that officials of the oil firm had properly checked the Oyigbo area and confirmed that no pipeline of SPDC was affected by explosion on Saturday.
