Men Sentenced to Death for Seabed Petroleum Theft

Men Sentenced to Death for Seabed Petroleum Theft

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An east China court has sentenced 10 people whose attempt to steal seabed petroleum two years ago caused an oil and gas leak costing 400 million yuan (US$51 million) in direct economic loss.



Wang Yujiang and Liu Linbin, two principals who masterminded the theft, were sentenced to death at first trial on Friday at the Intermediate People's Court in Dongying, a city in the eastern Shandong Province, a spokesman with the court said.



Shi Guoyong, another principal, got a suspended death sentence, and seven others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years to life.



Investigators found the gang, at Wang's instruction, stole into a seabed oil extraction center of the country's second largest oilfield Shengli Oilfield in June 2005 to drill what they thought was an oil pipeline. They succeeded in perforating the pipe but fled when they found it contained natural gas instead of oil.



In July, they stole 10 tons of crude oil, valued at more than 30,000 yuan, from a pipeline in a different location. The perforated pipeline was not capped until after employees of Shengli Oilfield detected an oil leak five months later.



Natural gas leak from the pipeline damaged earlier was discovered only in March 2006.



Emergency repairs and cleanup at the two locations plus the damages to the local fisheries cost an estimated 400 million yuan, the court said.



(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2007)