TransCanada Corp shuts down Keystone pipeline after oil spill in South Dakota

CALGARY – TransCanada has shut down its Keystone pipeline while it investigates an oil spill in South Dakota, the organization said Monday.

Mark Cooper, a spokesman for TransCanada, said a nearby landowner noticed signs of an oil spill around noon local time Saturday and informed the organization.

The pipeline, which carries about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, was shut down within a few minutes, Cooper said.

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“As soon once we got that report in we immediately began efforts to shut down the pipeline and crews were immediately dispatched towards the site,” Cooper said.

He said hello was difficult to determine precisely how much oil was spilled, although the company said hello covered a “small surface area” without any significant impact towards the environment observed. The organization continues to investigate supply of the spill, he added.

The spill was discovered about six kilometres from TransCanada’s Freeman pump station, which sits roughly 60 km southwest of Sioux Falls, S.D.

The company said it has notified landowners and native agencies in the region in addition to regulatory agencies including the National Response Center and also the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The Keystone pipeline carries oil from Hardisty, Alta., east through to Manitoba before it turns south to markets within the American Midwest and U.S. Gulf Coast.

TransCanada said hello has notified customers that the pipeline running from Hardisty to Cushing, Okla., and to terminals in Illinois would remain shut until at least Friday, while the Gulf Coast extension of the pipeline remains active.

The incident comes as TransCanada is constantly on the push forward its proposed 4,600-kilometre Energy East Pipeline that will ship Alberta crude to New Brunswick.

The company hit a significant setback in its pipeline expansion plans when U.S. President Barack Obama rejected its proposed Keystone XL pipeline last November.

Environmental groups had opposed the pipeline, which would have run from Hardisty to Nebraska, both since it allows increased exports of oilsands crude and due to potential spills.