Western Pipeline closed due to wet weather, erosion
CALGARY, Alberta, June 16 (Reuters) – Pembina Pipeline has shut its crude oil-carrying Western Pipeline in northern British Columbia, Canada, after wet weather and erosion exposed a portion of the line, according to a notice sent to customers on Thursday.
Flood warnings are in effect for the Peace River region, near the British Columbia-Alberta border, after between 4 and 13 cm of rain fell in the area since Tuesday morning, according to the provincial government.
The Western Pipeline carries around 50,000 barrels per day of crude from Taylor to Prince George and Kamloops, further south in interior British Columbia, according to Pembina’s website. It is fed by Blueberry, BC Light and Boundary Lake gathering pipelines.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the shipper notice seen by Reuters Pembina said it could not speculate on when it will be able to resume service on the Western Pipeline, and its Peace Pipeline is currently at full capacity and cannot accept additional crude.
In addition, Pembina expects its Boundary Lake (ACR) outage to continue as a result, the notice said, but condensate has not been affected by the outage.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Houston and Catherine Ngai in New York; Writing by Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish)