The operator of the Keystone pipeline, TC Energy, is blaming “third-party damage”—not climate impacts brought on by the product its infrastructure carries—for cutting back the flow of oil through a pumping station near Huron, South Dakota, curtailing the supply of what Bloomberg Markets calls a “crucial grade of oil” to refineries.
In an update this morning, the Calgary-based pipeliner says there’s no timeline for restoring full service. “We are unable to further discuss operations as it involves commercially sensitive information,” the notice states.
In an email to The Energy Mix, a company spokesperson said high temperatures “were not a factor in this situation”. Bloomberg previously reported that the supply disruption for Cold Lake crude oil was “triggered by a power outage at a pump station in South Dakota—where temperatures topped more than 100°F/38°C, or 20 degrees above normal,” Bloomberg .
The shortage immediately began driving up crude oil prices and contributing to “already rampant energy inflation,” the news agency noted. News reports say the supply disruption will hit refiners in the U.S. Midwest, Texas, and Louisiana that turn tar sands/oil sands crude into gasoline, diesel, and other products.
