Canada / US pipeline explosion and fire - 2 dead.

Oil company Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) (NYSE:ENB) reported at 3:45 CST, yesterday an explosion and fire on an Enbridge crude oil pipeline approximately three miles southeast of Enbridge's Clearbrook, Minnesota terminal near the Candian border.

All Enbridge pipelines(Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4) in the vicinity were immediately shut down and isolated and Enbridge emergency crews were dispatched to the site. The Lakehead pipleine system is capable of delivering 1.5 million barrels a day of Canadian oil to the US which is 66% of the oil that is shipped.The US consumes approx 27Mn bpd.

The company reported today the death of 2 employees posted missing yesterday.

The entire Lakehead system involvses more than a dozen pipelines in various parts of North America with a combined capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day.

The mainline between Alberta and Superior, Wisconsin, transports approximately 1.5 million bpd, most of which goes to refineries in the U.S. Midwest. The remainder is shipped to refineries in Central Canada.

Pipeline capacity is tight due to rising oil production in Alberta from the oil shales, and Enbridge has been working hard to expand pipeline capacity .


The system suffered several incidents this year prior to the blast on Wednesday.

JANUARY 3
- 300,000 bpd Line 14, which connects Superior, Wisconsin, to Chicago, ruptures in rural Wisconsin. The line is shut for approximately 24 hours.
FEBRUARY 2
- Line 14 suffers another leak in Wisconsin. Nearby 630,000 bpd Line 6A, which connects Superior, Wisconsin to Chicago, is also shut as a precaution.
APRIL 16
- 450,000 bpd Line 3, which connects Hardisty, Alberta, with Superior, Wisconsin, has a leak near Gleavon, Saskatchewan. NOVEMBER 14
- Line 3 shut for 18 hours after small spill discovered near Clearbrook, Minnesota. Nearby 670,000 bpd Line 4, which connects Edmonton, Alberta, with Superior, Wisconsin, is also shut as a precaution.
NOVEMBER 29
Two lines are restarted within hours of the blast.

There are some 13 500 kilometres (8,500 miles 12" to 48" dia) ) of pipeline in Enbridge's liquids systems which carry some two-thirds of Canada's crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is transported through the Enbridge mainline system and maintained and operated by 1,200 staff.

The system has more than 530 active pumping units with one million kilowatts of installed power.

See post on the Belgian pipeline gas explosion here..."Late sleepers in Ath, 30 km SW of Brussels were woken by a massive explosion at 8.55 am on Friday July 30th 2004. " ... a cause was never established.

We wait to fnd out what happened at this remote site where maintenance was being undertaken.

Crude oil rose on first reports and the fell back.