Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) has repaired the Mathura-Delhi section of its Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline, where an instance of illegal tapping was detected on February 17 early morning, and put it back into service the same night to ensure uninterrupted flow of petroleum products. 

The corporation's security guards patrolling the RK Puram area of Mathura district found illegal tapping of the pipeline being carried out through a 15-foot deep tunnel. An FIR was lodged.

IndianOil owns and operates a 12,500-km network of crude oil, product and gas pipelines, of which the Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline, spanning about 535 km, transports finished products from its Mathura Refinery to various consumption centres of Delhi, UP, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Punjab. With a throughput capacity of 3.7 million tonnes per annum, the pipeline traverses via Delhi-Panipat-Ambala and terminates at Jalandhar. 

Illegal tapping of petroleum pipelines is a global menace and pipeline operators have been adopting various measures to curb the same. IndianOil too has taken up several measures such as day-and-night patrolling by security guards; round-the-clock online monitoring of pipeline pressure & flow conditions; installation of leak detection systems; surprise patrolling by senior officers; etc., and is also seeking the help of the local administration and police in curbing instances of pipeline tapping and pilferage. 

Despite multiple measures being in place, there have been sporadic instances of miscreants resorting to pilferage and illegal tapping of pipelines.