U.S. Regulator Approves Restart Of Keystone Oil Pipeline

TC Energy, the operator of the Keystone Pipeline, has received approval from the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for its plan to restart the section of the pipeline from Steele City close to the Nebraska-Kansas border to Cushing, Oklahoma.

The company, however, did not say when the restart could begin and that works could take “several days”.

Early this month, TC Energy shut down the oil pipeline after a leak south of Steele City spilled oil into a creek in Kansas.

“The system remains shutdown as our crews actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil,” TC Energy said in early December.

A few days later, the leak was contained and no drinking water has been impacted, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement at the time.

In the middle of December, TC Energy restarted a segment of the Keystone oil pipeline which was not affected by the leak that caused the shutdown of the piece of infrastructure.

“TC Energy has communicated with its regulators and customers about today’s restart of the Keystone Pipeline System sections unaffected by the Milepost 14 Incident. This restart facilitates safe transportation of the energy that customers and North Americans rely on. This section extends from Hardisty, Alberta, to Wood River/Patoka, Illinois,” the pipeline operator said on December 15.

On December 23, in its latest update on the pipeline, TC Energy said that the PHMSA had approved the company’s Restart Plan for the Cushing segment.

“We will be commencing activities to support the safe restart of the segment,?including rigorous testing and inspections, and this will take several days,” TC Energy said. ?

The 2,687-mile Keystone Pipeline System plays a key role in connecting Alberta’s crude oil supplies to U.S. refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas, as well as connecting U.S. crude oil supplies from the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub to refining markets on the U.S. Gulf Coast through the Marketlink Pipeline System.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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