In November 2009, ORLEN Lietuva Pipeline and Terminal Operations Division held an emergency response drill in the vicinity of the product pipeline IIukste-Ventspils in Birzai district.According to the drill scenario, the Emergency Response Group had to respond to and eliminate an unauthorized tie into (connection to) the product pipeline and a minor environmental accident. (video)
The purpose of the drill was to improve the preparedness for emergency response and the interaction between institutions involved in emergency response, to check the efficiency of the reporting procedure and of the approved Emergency Management Center reporting scheme.
The drill involved not only the Company employees, but also fire-fighters, policy, a first aid team. The drill was observed and evaluated by officers from the State Energy Inspectorate, environmental protection officers acting in the district, also county- and district-level specialists of civil protection and journalists.
The environmental protection officers who were present at the drill expressed the opinion that ORLEN Lietuva is a company whose preparedness for emergency response is the best in the country. According to Romualdas Kiseliunas, Head of Civil Protection and Mobilization Division of Panevezys County Governor’s Administration, the organization of the drill was very good.
The length of the product pipeline Ilukste-Ventspils (used to carry diesel fuel from Russia to Latvia) in Lithuania is 87 kilometers. The section of the pipeline running across Latvia is much longer – almost 300 kilometers. Six unauthorized ties into the product pipeline have been reported this year. The number of such in Latvia since the beginning of the year – 200.
According to Danielia Krelovska, Deputy General Director for Logistics of ORLEN Lietuva, the this-year-increasing number of unauthorized ties-in shows that criminals tend to be more persistent and impertinent in crisis period. Unfortunately, more than 90 per cent of all such crimes committed in Lithuania this year have not been solved yet. In the opinion of the Company’s representative, the need for a closer cooperation with law-and-order institutions and for larger criminal liability for economic crimes likely to cause considerable damage to the environment is felt. Danielia Krelovska believes that prompt and efficient actions as well as adequate reaction to such crimes would best dispel the society's attitude that similar unauthorized actions are not subject to any punishment.
