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TransCanada pipe down for work
News Articles | upstreamonline.com | September 06, 2010
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The 435,000 barrel a day pipeline, which began operations at the end of June, was shut down on Wednesday and is not expected to be back in service until next Wednesday, TransCanada spokesman Michael Barnes said.
“As part of the maintenance program, we simply took an opportunity to conduct some unscheduled maintenance on Keystone, and that should allow us to continue to meet our obligations customers,” Barnes said.
The $5.2 billion line runs to southern Illinois from Alberta. Flows rates have fluctuated since start-up, and have not hit capacity yet, Barnes said.
Canadian crude producers have been hit by a series of transport problems since Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline ruptured on 26 July near Marshall, Michigan. It has yet to restart.
This month, Enbridge imposed cuts to shipper nominations for space on four of its other pipelines to US refineries as players scrambled to reroute supplies.
The tight pipeline capacity has contributed to deepening price discounts for Canadian heavy and light crude oil grades, traders have said.
TransCanada is currently building a second phase of Keystone that will extend a branch of the line to Cushing, Oklahoma, and increase the overall capacity to 590,000 bpd, reported Reuters.
Tagged with: transcanada, pipeline, keystone, maintenance
