Buncefield Disaster Hemel Hempsted Dec 11.

Am I possibly in a minority of one over the recent Buncefield disaster?

I wanted to post this record as a reminder in the months that follow that officials may have been to quick to call Buncefield an accident and that more sinister dealings were in the hands of terrorists and I offer to explain why.

Let me start by qualifying my interest in this news story. I was a resident of Hertfordshire for many years. During that time I both organized and competed in a large number of treasure hunts promoted by a motor club in the county under the rules of the RAC Motor Sports Association.

Buncefield sits in the middle of Ordnance Survey Landranger Series Map 166 (Luton and Hertfordshire) and the country lanes to the north and north-east of the site were frequently used for 12-car rallies and treasure hunts.

Its location very close to both the M1 motorway, and M10 link for access to the M25 orbital motorway around London would provide easy access both to the site and from the site for would-be terrorists.

Buncefield is clearly marked on maps and is not a secret installation.

The area most affected is towards the north of the site bounded by a small country lane, not more than 16 feet wide with woodland on both sides of the street providing cover to anyone attempting to cut through the chainlink fencing to gain access to the site possibly undetected under the cover of night when security could be at its lowest.

The British Oil industry has a remarkably good safety record, there are marks against it of course, Piper-Alpha Oil Rig comes to mind in the North Sea, but the stringent safety and construction of the 3 million gallon oil containers and the infrastructure around the site is not in my opinion in question.

Here are a few simple facts:

Terrorists have threatened oil installations.

Buncefield is a soft target, but strategic insofar it receives oil from the North Sea, and serves two of London’s Airports, including Heathrow and Luton.

Such an attack could cause loss of life and significant property damage, which thankfully only the latter has proven.

Buncefield is an obvious economic target that if terrorism was the cause could have created increased oil prices, difficulty in providing oil to Heathrow and Luton and the spiraling effect could cripple the UK economy and the South East. Refer back to the recent oil blockades, demonstrating against the petrol tax to the UK government. It took some time after the peaceful blockades were removed for the country to get back to normal.

Any attack on allied oil installations would impact the price of oil and create further economic pressure.

So on the first day of the fire the cause was announced by police and officials as an accident and this is the story they continue to tell. Meanwhile the heat and devastation caused by the fire and subsequent explosions may be enough to cover the tracks of any terror campaign as evidence has melted in the intense heat or been destroyed from the many explosions.

An official inquiry will be started, questions will be asked, fingers pointed to blame for any number of reasons, (echo’s of the finger pointing after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans), and the truth or a version of it will eventually out.

One thing is for certain, in this current economic climate, an attack on the oil industry and let us not forget the American interests as Chevron is one of the parent companies, is not what Britain or America needs right now.

Just placing my marker on this one and no doubt will be reviewed in the future.