Leak causes parts of Keystone, Enbridge pipelines to close

Portions of TransCanada Corp’s Keystone oil pipeline and Enbridge’s Platte pipeline remained shut on Thursday for investigation of a leak in the St. Louis, Mo. area, officials said.

TransCanada shut the Keystone pipeline down on Wednesday between Steele City, Neb., and Patoka, Ill., and dispatched crews to assess the situation, company spokesman Terry Cunha said.

The 590,000 barrel-per-day Keystone pipeline is a critical artery taking Canadian crude from northern Alberta to U.S. refineries. Canadian pipelines are already congested, due to expanding production in recent years, forcing the Alberta provincial government to order production cuts starting last month.

Part of the Platte crude pipeline, operated by an Enbridge Inc affiliate, was also shut, while other sections were open as of Thursday afternoon, spokesman Devin Hotzel said.

The pipeline transports up to 164,000 bpd of crude oil from Casper, Wyo., to Guernsey, Wyo., and 145,000 bpd from Guernsey to Wood River, Ill.

Canadian heavy oil has attracted greater demand in recent days due to U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s state oil company.

The discount on Canadian heavy crude compared to U.S. light oil widened to US$10.25 per barrel on Thursday afternoon from US$9.40 earlier, according to Net Energy Exchange.

TransCanada shares eased 0.4 per cent to $55.88 in Toronto while Enbridge shares slipped 0.4 per cent to $49.22.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration could not be immediately reached.