Crude flows fully resume through Keystone Pipeline

Canadian TC Energy said yesterday that the affected section of the Keystone Pipeline that runs through the US’ Kankas to Cushing, Oklahoma has resumed crude flows.

MAP: Crude flows resumed at the southern section of the Keystone Pipeline where the oil leak was detected on 7 December. TC Energy

TC Energy shut the entire Keystone Pipeline on 7 December, after an oil leak of about 14,000 bbls was detected in a creek in Washington County in Kansas, US.

The company later resumed crude flows in the unaffected section of the Keystone Pipeline that runs from Canada’s Alberta through to the US Wood River in Illinois. However, the section of the pipeline that runs through Kankas to Cushing, Oklahoma, where the oil leak occurred, remained closed for nearly three weeks.

Last week, the ruptured segment of the affected pipeline section was removed by TC Energy, and was then sent to an independent lab for metallurgical testing as directed by the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

After all repairs, inspections and tests were finished, controlled crude flows were resumed, TC Energy says in its latest notification. The pipeline system will function with additional risk-mitigation measures, including reduced operating pressures.

By Nithin Chandran

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