Keystone Pipeline restarted after oil spill in rural North Dakota
[April 15, 2025]
By JACK DURA
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The operator of the Keystone oil pipeline
restarted the system Monday after a spill onto farmland in North Dakota
last week shut down the line.
South Bow said it was watching inclement weather conditions before
beginning “a carefully controlled restart” that will include 24/7
monitoring, reduced operating pressures, cleanup of the site and
compliance with federal regulators' requirements. The federal Pipeline
and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said South Bow restarted
the pipeline at a reduced pressure.
The failed section was dug out and replaced and will be taken to a
metallurgical lab in Houston for testing, while the repaired pipeline
will be tested at different pressures to ensure its integrity, PHMSA
said.
The agency's investigation is ongoing. It is unclear what caused the
spill.
The company said it has finished all repairs, inspections and testing at
the spill site. PHMSA said it signed off on the company's restart plan.
South Bow also said it will put certain pressure restrictions on the
pipeline's Canadian sections, and has shared those details with Canadian
regulators.
The company's update did not mention a cause of the spill, though the
company said it would share investigation findings when available. An
employee heard a “mechanical bang" and shut down the pipeline within two
minutes, a state spill response official previously said.
The spill is estimated at 3,500 barrels, or 147,000 gallons. Vacuum
trucks had recovered 1,170 barrels of crude oil, or 49,140 gallons, as
of early Friday, according to PHMSA.
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The spill occurred in a field north of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, a
tiny town in a forested area known for scenic views and outdoor
recreation.
The 2,689-mile (4,327 kilometers) Keystone Pipeline carries crude
oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and
Texas.
The pipeline was shut down from Alberta to points in Illinois and a
liquid tank terminal Oklahoma, though the line remained open between
Oklahoma and Texas' Gulf Coast, according to a map from South Bow.
Lower oil prices due to tariff issues helped mute challenges from
the pipeline shutdown on gas prices, though diesel prices could
still inch up, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy
and innovation at the University of Houston.
Gas prices have fallen in almost every state in the last week due to
the oil price drop resulting from the tariff and trade war concerns,
said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, which
tracks gas prices.
“I wouldn't have expected this to really have much of an impact
anyway, but with oil prices actively having plummeted over the last
week, yes, I would say that the decline was more than offset,” he
said.
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