China’s work safety agency on Thursday blamed the country’s largest refining company and local officials in the city of Qingdao for pipeline explosions in November that killed 62 people and left 136 more injured. Huang Yi, a spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety said at a news conference that the initial oil leak at the pipeline wasn’t properly inspected and that both the pipeline’s operator and local government departments bore responsibility for the explosions. Mr. Huang said the initial emergency response was “inadequate” and that workers on the scene failed to detect lingering oil and gas in the eight-hour period between the initial leak and the explosions. The pipeline is owned by China Petrochemical Corp., known as Sinopec Group. The transcript of the news conference released by the safety agency didn’t mention Sinopec by name, but the official Xinhua news agency said the regulator blamed both Sinopec […]