Preliminary findings show fatigue crack caused Keystone Pipeline oil spill

BISMARCK, N.D. -- A fatigue ace successful the Keystone Pipeline led to an oil spill successful North Dakota earlier this year that released thousands of barrels of lipid onto farmland, according to the pipeline operator.

In a quarterly study released Thursday, South Bow said archetypal findings show, “the nonaccomplishment resulted from a fatigue ace that originated on the pipe’s manufactured long-seam weld.” A fatigue ace develops from accent implicit time. A mechanical and metallurgical investigation recovered the tube and welds met manufacture standards, the institution said.

Spill-related costs full astir $55 million, which the institution said it expects to retrieve done security aboriginal adjacent year. Through September, South Bow had received astir $16 cardinal successful reimbursements from its security policies.

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ordered respective corrective actions aft the spill. The national authorities shutdown delayed the merchandise of a third-party “root origin analysis,” South Bow said.

It's unclear erstwhile those findings volition come. A South Bow spokesperson said PHMSA is starring that process and “out of respect for the process, we can’t talk for them.”

The spill occurred April 8. An worker astatine the agrarian tract astir 60 miles southwest of Fargo heard a “mechanical bang” and unopen down the pipeline wrong 2 minutes, a authorities authoritative has said.

An estimated 3,500 barrels oregon 147,000 gallons of lipid spilled successful a tract adjacent Fort Ransom, a tiny municipality successful a forested country with outdoor recreation and scenic views. South Bow sent vacuum trucks and much than 200 workers to assistance the cleanup. The pipeline restarted aft a six-day shutdown.

State regulators inspected the tract respective times successful the months aft the spill, noting successful September that “the vegetation is recovering well,” and that it should beryllium checked again successful outpouring 2026, according to an incidental report.

Nearly 90% of the spilled oil was recovered, according to the report. Crews removed impacted ungraded to beryllium disposed of elsewhere.

Local landowner Myron Hammer said South Bow's cleanup was completed successful clip for him to works a soybean harvest connected the land.

“I'm amazed that they got everything enactment backmost successful spot arsenic speedy arsenic they did. It was a large project,” helium said.

Roughly 5 acres of onshore were impacted by the spill, though South Bow utilized 40 acres oregon much for the full staging country and access, Hammer said. People and vehicles were connected tract arsenic precocious arsenic Thursday, helium said. The country of the spill is successful mildly rolling farmland.

The institution said it has conducted galore remedial evaluations of the pipeline and recovered “no injurious issues” truthful far, with much in-line inspections and integrity digs to come.

The astir 2,700-mile (4,345 kilometers) Keystone Pipeline transports crude lipid from Alberta, Canada, to refineries successful Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The pipeline moved an mean 580,000 barrels per time from January done September of this year, South Bow said.