Canada-based TC Energy has announced that it is shutting down its oil pipeline in Kansas, US, after discovering an oil spill into a creek near Steele City, Nebraska. “We have shut down the Keystone Pipeline System and mobilised people and equipment in response to a confirmed release of oil into a creek, approximately 20 miles (approx. 32 kilometres) south of Steele City, NE,” it said in a statement.
The oil leak was detected on Wednesday at 9 pm (ET local time) after alarm bells rang and the pressure dropped in the system. The company said their “crews actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil.”
The company said that an estimated 14,000 barrels of oil have been discharged as of late Thursday.
So far, the company has not provided a timetable for restarting the Keystone Pipeline, which can transport more than 600,000 barrels of oil daily.
The pipeline transports crude oil from Canada to the United States, and there it is processed into gasoline.
It is unclear how the leak occurred, but a spokesperson of the PHMSA, an arm of the Transportation Department which overlooks safety regulations for pipelines, said that they are probing the cause of the leak.
Meanwhile, the news of the oil leak pushed up the oil prices in the US brief at $75.44 a barrel, before easing.
In recent trading, oil was up 0.8 per cent to $72.57 a barrel. The gains follow a steep selloff in recent days that left crude at levels unseen since December 2021, reports CNN.
(With inputs from agencies)
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