The pipeline damage in a peat swamp at Ruakaka. Photo: SuppliedAn initial investigation by the Marsden Point oil refinery has found a digger driver searching for swamp kauri caused the critical damage to the fuel pipeline months ago. The increase in pressure was too much for the damaged pipeline and it ruptured, spewing fuel into a peat swamp. "There was swamp kauri on the site, in our excavation we have come across pieces of it," he said. A review of NZ oil security for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment recognised in 2012 that any cut in the oil pipeline would mean "no jet supply to Auckland Airport".

Source: Otago Daily Times September 17, 2017 20:37 UTC