Something doesn't sound right here - a spill of 500,000
gallons of crude oil into the environment was only an
estimated cost of $480,000 to clean up??? AND
was due to poor quality workmanship....Of course, let's
keep building more of these....NOT!
"A spill of more than 500,000-gallons of crude oil from
the Keystone Pipeline in December in Kansas was caused
by a combination of a faulty weld and "bending stress
fatigue" on the pipe, the conduit's operator announced
Thursday.
TC Energy, the pipeline's Canadian operator, said the
cause was determined by an independent lab analysis on
the failed section of the 2,687-mile conduit.
"Although welding inspection and testing were conducted
within applicable codes and standards, the weld flaw
led to a crack that propagated over time as a result of
bending stress fatigue, eventually leading to an
instantaneous rupture," TC Energy said in a statement.
The faulty weld in a fitting girth connecting two
sections of pipe "was completed at a fabrication
facility," TC Energy said.
The cause of the bending stress of the pipeline remains
under investigation.
At full operation, the pipeline normally pumps about
622,000 barrels, or more than 26 million gallons of oil
per day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas,
Illinois and Oklahoma, according to the company.
"The metallurgical analysis identified no issues with
the strength or material properties of the pipe or
manufactured fitting. The pipeline was operating within
its operational design and within the pipeline design
maximum operating pressure," the company said.
TC Energy estimated that cost of cleaning up the oil
spill was $480,000.
The Kansas oil leak is the biggest in the United States
in more than a decade and the largest in the 12-year
history of the Keystone Pipeline.
The leak in Washington County, Kansas, was first
detected Dec. 7, about 20 miles south of the pipeline's
Steele City, Nebraska, terminal. The leak in the 36-
inch diameter pipeline spilled down a hill and into a
creek, prompting TC Energy to shut down the entire
line.
The leak was the latest in a series of accidents on the
pipeline. A federal report released in 2021 showed the
conduit recorded 22 accidents between 2010 and 2020 and
found the severity of spills has "worsened" in recent
years. The report conducted by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office showed the previous incidents
leaked a total of 11,975 barrels of crude oil, or a
little over 500,000 gallons.
The report found that four of the biggest Keystone
Pipeline oil spills between 2010 and 2020 were caused
by issues related to the original design, manufacturing
of the pipe or construction of the pipeline."
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