TRIESTE – No sabotage on the SIOT-TAL oil pipeline: the company that operates the link between Trieste and southern Germany has denied reports circulated in recent days.
In a statement released on 11 April, SIOT – TAL clarified that the information published by some German media “is completely unfounded”. The slowdown recorded at the end of March, the company explains, was caused by a series of technical events, including Terna’s request to disconnect the Paluzza pumping station in Friuli Venezia Giulia from the electricity grid in order to allow urgent repairs to a damaged pylon.
The operation, carried out on a line that also serves other facilities and is located more than 12 kilometres from TAL infrastructure, was completed in three days. Once the works were finished, the oil pipeline resumed full operations. The company also specifies that any hypotheses of external action or malicious acts are not supported by the facts and remain unfounded. Checks by the electricity grid operator and the authorities are still under way to establish the causes of the damage to the pylon.
At the same time, TAL reports that a scheduled shutdown is also under way, until 23 April, on one of the two jetties at the Trieste marine terminal, as part of ordinary annual maintenance.
The reconstructions denied by the company came from German media outlets which had reported an alleged attack on energy infrastructure in northern Italy. According to those sources, the stoppage allegedly interrupted the flow of crude oil to strategic refineries such as MiRO and Bayernoil for around three days, forcing them to use stocks.
The articles suggested that the cause was sabotage of the power line supplying a pumping station in the Tolmezzo area, with possible implications for the security of energy infrastructure. They also referred to the involvement of German and Italian authorities in clarifying the nature of the incident.