Oil Surges After Leak Shuts Down Keystone Pipeline

TC Energy Corp said in a statement this morning that it shut the Keystone oil pipeline system after a leak into a creek near Steele City, Nebraska

We have shut down the Keystone Pipeline System and mobilized people and equipment in response to a confirmed release of oil into a creek, approximately 20 miles (approx. 32 kilometres) south of Steele City, NE.

Pursuant to our incident protocols, an emergency shutdown and response was initiated at approximately 8 p.m. CT, on Dec. 7, 2022, after alarms and a detected pressure drop in the system.

The affected segment has been isolated, and booms deployed to control downstream migration of the release. The system remains shutdown as our crews actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil.

We are proceeding to make appropriate notifications, including to our customers and regulators and will work cooperatively with third parties to effectively respond to this incident.

Our primary focus right now is the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community, and mitigating risk to the environment through the deployment of booms downstream as we work to contain and prevent further migration of the release.

We will provide more information as soon as it becomes available.

The response was swift in WTI, jumping over 3%…

The system can carry more than 600,000 barrels of crude per day.

The nearest time spread for the US benchmark surged over 50 cents into a bullish backwardation structure…

A prolonged outage would significantly tighten markets in Cushing, the delivery point of benchmark US crude futures as well as in the Gulf Coast.