The 4327 kilometre (2689 mile) Keystone oil pipeline was shut down Tuesday morning after it ruptured in North Dakota, halting the stream of crude oil from Canada to refineries within the U.S.
South Bow, a liquid pipeline enterprise that manages the pipeline, stated it shut down the pipeline after management heart leak detection techniques detected a strain drop within the system. The spill is confined to an agricultural discipline in a rural space, about 60 miles southwest of Fargo.
“The affected section has been remoted, and operations and containment sources have been mobilized to web site,” the corporate stated. “Our main focus proper now could be the security of onsite personnel and mitigating threat to the atmosphere.”
The pipeline transported a median 624,000 barrels per day in 2024, in line with Canadian regulators. It stretches 4327 kilometers (2689 miles) from Alberta to Texas.
The Keystone pipeline began operations in 2010, pumping a median of 624,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to refineries on the U.S. gulf coast.
It wasn’t clear what triggered the rupture of the underground pipeline or the quantity of crude oil launched into the sector.
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An worker working on the web site close to Fort Ransom heard a “mechanical bang” and shut down the pipeline inside about two minutes, stated Invoice Suess, spill investigation program supervisor with the North Dakota Division of Environmental High quality.
Oil surfaced about 274 meters (300 yards) south of the pump station in a discipline and emergency personnel responded, Suess stated. However no folks or constructions had been affected by the spill, he stated.
A close-by stream that solely flows throughout a part of the 12 months was not affected however was blocked off and remoted as a precaution, he stated.
The Pipelines and Hazardous Supplies Security Administration is sending a group to research the reason for the leak.
Fort Ransom is in a hilly, forested space of southeastern North Dakota identified for scenic views.
It’s unclear at what charge the 80 centimetre (30-inch) pipeline was flowing, however even at two minutes “it’s going to have a reasonably good quantity,” Suess stated.
“However, we’ve had a lot, a lot larger spills,” together with one involving the identical pipeline a number of years in the past in Walsh County, North Dakota, he stated. “I don’t assume it’s going to be that massive.”
The Keystone Pipeline was constructed in 2010 at a price of $5.2 billion and carries crude oil throughout Saskatchewan and Manitoba by means of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.
Although the pipeline was constructed by TC Power, it’s now managed by South Bow as of 2024.
A proposed extension to the pipeline referred to as Keystone XL would have transported crude oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast, but it surely was finally deserted by the corporate in 2021 after years of protests from environmental activists and Indigenous communities over environmental considerations.
In December 2022, almost 13,000 barrels of oil spilled from the Keystone pipeline right into a creek in Kansas.
Related Press
In December 2022, almost 13,000 barrels of oil spilled from Keystone’s line in Kansas right into a creek traversing a pasture.
An engineering consulting agency stated the bend within the pipeline on the web site had been “overstressed” since being put in in 2010, possible due to development exercise altering the land across the pipe.
TC Power stated a defective weld within the line’s bend triggered a crack that exacerbated over time.
With information from Josh Funk, The Related Press.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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