Keystone Operator Blamed for Contributing to US Oil Spill (1)

The operator of the Keystone pipeline is partly to blame for failures that contributed to the spilling of nearly 13,000 barrels of crude from the line in 2022, according to a report by US regulators.

The failure occurred at a weld that had been under stress because the soil under the line wasn’t adequately compacted after the pipeline was excavated to replace fittings in 2010, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in the report.

“This stress has been determined sufficient to initiate cracking of the failed girth weld,” PHMSA said.

The spill happened on farmland in Kansas ...