TEHRAN, Jan 12 - A major fuel pipeline that supplies Mexico City remained closed after two ruptures in a single day, the president said on Friday, as the government works to stem shortages that have frustrated motorists and triggered economic risks.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's offensive against fuel robbers marks the leftist's first attempt to tackle entrenched corruption since taking office on Dec. 1.
Criminal groups have tapped pipelines and stolen tanker trucks carrying diesel and gasoline in the oil-producing country for years, costing the government billions of dollars.
The government will assign 8,300 police and 1,400 security vehicles over the next 48 hours to safeguard fuel trucks so they can deliver to gas stations, said Mexico's National Chamber of Freight Transport (CANACAR).
A key pipeline running from the port of Tuxpan in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz to Mexico City was shut down on Thursday night and repairs were underway, Lopez Obrador said on Friday.
The pipeline was hit at daybreak on Thursday and repaired, only to suffer another rupture at 11 p.m., he said.
"There's sabotage," he said. "Let's see who gets tired first."
The series of disruptions to the pipeline in recent days had caused shortfalls in supply for Mexico City and surrounding states.
Cars lined up by the dozen at stations throughout the capital on Friday, many before dawn, fearing that the shortages that fanned into the megacity this week from nearby states could persist.
Source: Reuters
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