Workers have recovered thousands of gallons of crude oil from an underground spill from the Keystone pipeline on North Dakota farmland, the owner of the line said Thursday, but it remains unclear when oil will begin flowing through the pipeline again.
Calgary-based South Bow is still investigating the cause of the spill that happened Tuesday near Fort Ransom, North Dakota, about 97 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Fargo, the company said.
The spill released an estimated 3,500 barrels of oil, onto the nearby farmland.
The company said 700 barrels, or 29,400 gallons, have been recovered so far by the more than 200 workers who are helping in the cleanup and investigation.
This photo provided by South Bow shows workers gathered to respond to the Keystone oil pipeline spill that occured Tuesday, April 8, 2025. near Fort Ransom, N.D. (South Bow via AP).
South Bow has not set a timeline for restarting the 4,327 kilometre (2,689-mile) pipeline, which stretches from Hardisty, Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.
The company said it “will only resume service with regulator approvals.”
South Bow is working with the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the state Department of Environmental Quality.
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Continuous monitoring of air quality hasn’t indicated any adverse health or public concerns, South Bow said.
The site remains busy, said Myron Hammer, a nearby landowner who farms the land affected by the spill. Workers have been bringing in mats to the field so equipment can access the site, and lots of equipment is being assembled, he said.
The area has traffic checkpoints, and workers have been hauling gravel to maintain the roads, Hammer said.
There is a cluster of homes in the area, and residents include retirees and people who work in nearby towns, he said.
However, the spill site is not in a heavily populated area, added Hammer.
South Bow said the leak was first detected around 8:42 m.t. on Tuesday after a control centre leak detection system alerted them to a pressure drop in the system and the pipeline was shut down a few minutes later.
In this photo provided by South Bow, a vacuum truck transfers oil into a storage tank at the scene of a spill of the Keystone oil pipeline that occurred Tuesday, April 8, 2025, near Fort Ransom, N.D.
South Bow va AP
Experts have warned that an extended shutdown could lead to higher gasoline prices in the U.S. Midwest.
“It’s hard to see how you replace that into the stockpile that goes into these refineries,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at the University of Houston.
Gas prices in the Midwest have already seen an increase that is likely to grow, and diesel prices could also be impacted significantly and quickly, said Krishnamoorti.
Mark LaCour, editor-in-chief of the Oil and Gas Global Network, said he doesn’t think the pipeline shutdown will have a dramatic effect unless it lasts for two or three weeks.
Underground oil pipelines can be subject to a number of problems, both internal and external, said Robert Hall, a senior technical adviser with the Pipeline Safety Trust who previously was the director of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations at the National Transportation Safety Board.
Pipelines can face internal factors such as corrosion and pressure fluctuations leading to fatigue and cracks, said Hall.
External threats include corrosion, dents, gouges and construction damage, Hall added.
However, he said pipelines are still the safest method for transporting petroleum products.
“Just based on the accident history, if you look at the accidents that have occurred with trains, trucks and barges, there are collisions,” he said, citing a 2013 oil train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec that killed 47 people.
© 2025 The Canadian Press