Durban — Specialists from Johannesburg are investigating the cause of a fuel leak in one of the crude oil storage tanks belonging to the National Petroleum Refiners of SA (Natref) at Prospecton, south of Durban.
The smell from the leak, which started on Sunday, had caused panic among motorists travelling on the N2 near Isipingo, businesses and the neighbouring residential areas of Merebank, Isipingo and uMlazi.
When the Daily News team visited the company on Tuesday morning, vehicles from Spilltech, a company that specialises in hazardous substance spill control, were still on site.
Natref spokesperson Silindile Mngadi said the source of the odour was identified as originating from where crude oil had seeped onto the external floating roof of the storage tank. Mngadi said though the spill has since been brought under control, the company had to bring in specialists from their head office in Johannesburg to conduct an investigation to ascertain its causes.
In a statement released by Natref on Monday, it stated that one of its personnel had picked up an odour and on investigation staff had found the seepage.
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance activist Desmond D’sa has called for Natref executives to be held accountable if it was found they had not complied with the occupational safety and laws of petroleum storage and pipeline maintenance as per their permit conditions.
“We have requested that health-air quality monitoring be done. We are also calling for risk assessment and storage tank pressure testing to be done by an independent and experienced tank contractor with years of experience,” he said.
D’sa said that he had received many calls from community members complaining about a bad smell, which they said was affecting their breathing and causing chest pains.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said after the City was informed, it had dispatched its environmental health inspectors to assess the situation.
“Our environmental health department was alerted on Sunday afternoon of the smell. A senior manager of pollution control attended the complaint, and the investigation revealed that one of the tank’s floating roofs was malfunctioning and the facility’s engineers were busy with repairs. The product was drained and stored in another tank while the repairs were in progress,” Mayisela said.
The municipality said that Mayisela had requested a detailed report from the company as well as for future mitigation measures to be put in place to prevent the recurrence of the incident. Mayisela said that the city’s environmental health office in Clairwood had been instructed to monitor the repair progress on site.
Daily News