© Archyde.com. Emergency crews work to clean up the largest crude oil spill in the United States in nearly a decade, following a leak in a pipeline operated by TCL Petroleum.
(Archyde.com) – Efforts to remove oil from the largest crude oil spill in the United States in nearly a decade will continue this week, the United States Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday, making the Keystone pipeline shutdown likely to continue for several more days.
TC Energy shut down the largest pipeline transporting oil from Canada to the United States on Wednesday following 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into a creek in Kansas state. On Friday, it said it was still studying when it would be able to return the line to service.
The Keystone line transports 622,000 barrels of Canadian crude per day to various parts of the United States. Analysts said that the stoppage of the line may affect stocks at the main storage center in Cushing, Oklahoma, and cut off crude supplies to the two oil refining centers. Crews in Kansas continued cleanup efforts on Friday following the leak, the cause of which was unknown.
Bloomberg News quoted sources as saying that TC Energy aims to restart a segment of the pipeline (TADAWUL:) on Saturday that carries oil to Illinois and another segment that carries oil to Cushing on December 20. Archyde.com has not verified these details.
This is the third leakage of several thousand barrels from the pipeline since it was first opened in 2010. An earlier leakage of the Keystone line kept it closed for nearly two weeks.
(Prepared by Ahmed Sobhi for the Arabic Bulletin)
