Crews work to contain US oil spill – 12/09/2022

The Keystone Pipeline spill, which spilled about 2.2 million liters of crude oil into a waterway in Kansas, will be contained this Friday, US officials said.

If the scale of the incident is confirmed, it would be the largest oil spill in the United States since 2013, according to the Pipeline Safety Foundation.

TC Energy, the Canadian company that operates the infrastructure, discovered the incident on Wednesday night and stopped the flow of hydrocarbons in the pipeline.

“The affected area has been isolated” and the oil spill is “under control,” the company said today. The cause of the rupture was not identified.

The Environmental Protection Agency said work to remove the oil and restore the water should continue into next week.

The Keystone Pipeline allows the transportation of hydrocarbons from the province of Alberta in western Canada to various locations in the United States. It carries about 600,000 barrels a day during normal times. TC Energy said it was assessing when it could resume operations.

The incident’s impact on the energy market will depend on how long Keystone, which transports crude oil to a terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma, where US oil reserves are stored, serves as a reference for investors.

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© Agence France-Presse