New York
CNN Business
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The Keystone pipeline has been shut down following a leak discovered near the Kansas and Nebraska border.
The shutdown of the main pipeline carrying crude oil from Canada sparked volatility in the energy market on Thursday, with oil prices briefly rising as much as 5% before easing.
Federal safety regulators are investigating the leak and have been deployed to the site, a spokesperson for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration told CNN.
TC Energy of Canada
(PRT) said it launched an emergency shutdown of the Keystone pipeline system at 9 p.m. The company said the system remains closed while “our teams actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil.”
Calgary-based TC Energy said there has been a “confirmed release of oil” in a creek located about 20 miles south of Steele City, Nebraska. An estimated 14,000 barrels of oil have been offloaded as of Thursday night, the company said.
PHMSA, an arm of the Department of Transportation tasked with enforcing pipeline safety regulations, said the leak was located near Washington, Kansas, near the Nebraska border.
Thesperson said the agency is continuing to investigate the cause of the leak.
US oil prices rose as much as $75.44 a barrel on the news, before easing. In recent trading, oil rose 0.8% to $72.57 a barrel. The gains follow a sharp sell-off in recent days that left crude at levels not seen since December 2021.
No timetable has been given for restarting the Keystone Pipeline, a 2,700-mile system that delivers mostly Canadian oil to major refineries across the United States. The pipeline can carry more than 600,000 barrels of oil per day.
Matt Smith, an analyst at commodity data provider Kpler, said the Canadian oil that Keystone normally carries cannot be easily replaced.
“We are seeing a rise in prices because this will affect the refineries that take this crude,” Smith said.
“Our primary focus at this time is the health and safety of staff and staff at the site, the surrounding community, and the mitigation of risk to the environment through the deployment of barriers downstream as we work to contain and prevent further migration. of release,” TC Energy said. in a sentence.
The leak occurred in an existing Keystone pipeline that is separate from Keystone XL, a controversial pipeline project that was terminated last year after President Joe Biden revoked pipeline permit on his first day in office.
The Keystone pipeline has experienced leaks in the past, including one in South Dakota in 2016 Y another in 2019 in North Dakota that affected nearly five acres.
