Firm: Faulty weld, pressure on pipe led to Kansas oil spill
TOPEKA, Kan. – A faulty weld at a bend in an oil pipeline contributed to a spill that dumped nearly 13,000 bathtubs’ worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek, the pipeline’s operator said Thursday, estimating the cost of cleaning it up at $480 million.
Canadian-based TC Energy said the flawed weld caused a crack that then grew over time because of the stress on the bend in its Keystone pipeline system in rural pastureland in Washington County, about 150 miles northwest of Kansas City. The company said the weld was for a fitting that connected two sections of pipe, and the fitting and weld came from a manufacturing plant.
The company, which is responsible for overseeing inspections of its pipeline system, said it still is investigating the cause of the pipeline stress and is analyzing “other areas with potentially similar conditions.” The Dec. 7 rupture spilled nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil, with each barrel containing 42 gallons, the size of a standard household bathtub.
“Our focus continues to be the safe operation of the pipeline system,” the company said in a statement.
No one was evacuated following the spill, and officials said it did not affect the two larger rivers and reservoir downstream. With federal regulators’ permission, the company reopened the affected segment a little more than three weeks after the spill, though at a lower pressure than before.
But Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy group Pipeline Safety Trust, said it’s “troubling” that TC Energy said the flawed weld came from a
“fabrication facility.” He said conditions there should have been ideal for making a weld that would not fail – as opposed to welding in the field.
“It begs the question of how many other bad welds are on the Keystone pipeline from this same fabrication facility,” Caram said.
Caram also said pipeline companies and pipeline regulators in the U.S. Department of Transportation struggle to deal with a combination of multiple threats that on their own don’t appear to need immediate attention but together add up.