A portion of TransCanada Corp's Keystone oil pipeline and Enbridge's Platte pipeline remained shut on Thursday for investigation of a possible leak in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, officials said.
TransCanada shut the pipeline down on Wednesday between Steele City, Nebraska and Patoka, Illinois and dispatched crews to assess the situation, company spokesman Terry Cunha said in an email.
The 590,000 barrels-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.
Enbridge's Platte crude pipeline was also shut, according to a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The pipeline transports up to 164,000 bpd of crude oil from Casper, Wyoming, to Guernsey, Wyoming, and 145,000 bpd from Guernsey to Wood River, Illinois.
Enbridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 $10.50 per barrel on Thursday morning from $9.40 earlier, according to Net Energy Exchange.
TransCanada shares eased 0.7 percent to C$55.71 in Toronto while Enbridge shares slipped 1 percent to C$48.88.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration could not be immediately reached.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources official said the source of the leak had not yet been identified and the quantity of oil from the release is still unknown.
"The release was contained to an area of approximately 4,000 square feet.. excavation of the containment area will begin soon or is already in progress," the official said in an email, adding that there are no reports of other pipelines affected or closed.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York Editing by Alistair Bell)
Part of Keystone, Platte oil pipeline shut after potential leak
A portion of TransCanada Corp's Keystone oil pipeline and Enbridge's Platte pipeline remained shut on Thursday for investigation of a possible leak in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, officials said.
TransCanada shut the pipeline down on Wednesday between Steele City, Nebraska and Patoka, Illinois and dispatched crews to assess the situation, company spokesman Terry Cunha said in an email.
The 590,000 barrels-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.
Enbridge's Platte crude pipeline was also shut, according to a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The pipeline transports up to 164,000 bpd of crude oil from Casper, Wyoming, to Guernsey, Wyoming, and 145,000 bpd from Guernsey to Wood River, Illinois.
Enbridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 $10.50 per barrel on Thursday morning from $9.40 earlier, according to Net Energy Exchange.
TransCanada shares eased 0.7 percent to C$55.71 in Toronto while Enbridge shares slipped 1 percent to C$48.88.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration could not be immediately reached.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources official said the source of the leak had not yet been identified and the quantity of oil from the release is still unknown.
"The release was contained to an area of approximately 4,000 square feet.. excavation of the containment area will begin soon or is already in progress," the official said in an email, adding that there are no reports of other pipelines affected or closed.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York Editing by Alistair Bell)
