A U.S. regulator has ordered TC Energy Corp. to lower the operating pressure on the entire Keystone pipeline system. The Keystone Steele City pumping station is seen in Steele City, Neb., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Nati Harnik
CALGARY – A U.S. regulator has ordered TC Energy Corp. to lower the operating pressure on the entire Keystone pipeline system.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued the ruling Tuesday as a result of its ongoing investigation into a Dec. 7 leak that saw around 13,000 barrels of oil spill into a creek in Washington County, Kansas.
Pipeline operator TC Energy was able to restart most of the 4,324-kilometre pipeline a week after the spill, but a 154-kilometre section running from just south of Steele City, Nebraska to Cushing, Oklahoma remained shut down until the end of December.
That smaller section has been operating at a reduced pressure since it reopened. But Tuesday’s regulatory order means the entire Keystone pipeline system must now operate at a stress level of no more than 72 per cent of its specified minimum yield strength.
Keystone is the only crude oil pipeline in the U.S. to have been granted a special permit from the PHMSA to operate certain portions of the pipeline at a higher stress level, 80 per cent of its specified maximum yield strength, than is allowed under existing regulations.
As a result, since 2017, TC Energy had been operating Keystone at a higher operating pressure than would normally be allowed under U.S. rules.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023.
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