TC Energy issues update on Kansas oil spill

A morning briefing of 250 people working for TC Energy on an oil spill in rural Kansas (Photo courtesy TC Energy)

TC Energy issued an update Sunday on the status of an oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas that resulted in the shutdown of the company's Keystone pipeline system.

The cause of the leak has not yet been determined, and no re-start timeline has been confirmed, the company said in the update published on its website.

The spill, into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, about 240 km northwest of Kansas City took place Wednesday night following a drop in pipeline pressure.

By Thursday, the company estimated the spill at around 14,000 barrels.

A remediation company deploys a boom on the surface of an oil spill after a Keystone pipeline ruptured at Mill Creek in Washington County, Kansas, on Dec. 8, 2022. (Kyle Bauer/KCLY/KFRM Radio via AP)

Sunday, they re-iterated that "the product remains contained" with numerous vacuum trucks, booms, and other resources onsite.

There were 250 people onsite, it added, including a number of third-party environmental specialists.

The company said it would continue to work with a variety of stakeholders, including "land owners, the community, and local, state and federal regulators. Additionally, we are in discussion with the tribal nations and will welcome a tribal representative onsite to monitor the progress."

A U.S. Energy Information Administration spokesperson said the Keystone pipeline moves about 600,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma, where it can connect to another pipeline to the Gulf Coast. That's compared to the total of 3.5 million to four million barrels of Canadian oil imported into the U.S. every day.

Past Keystone spills have led to outages that lasted about two weeks, but this outage could possibly be longer because it involves a body of water, said analysts at RBC Capital Markets in a note to investors. Depending on the spill's location, it's possible that a portion of the pipeline could restart sooner, they said.

"It's something to keep an eye on," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which tracks gasoline prices. "It could eventually impact oil supplies to refiners, which could be severe if it lasts more than a few days."

Rain is forecast for the area Monday.

With files from The Associated Press