(Reuters) TC Energy Corp said that a U.S. regulator had approved a restart plan for an idled segment of its Keystone oil pipeline to Cushing, Oklahoma, and it looked to restore service after several days of testing and inspections.
The 622,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline was shut on Dec. 7 after it spilled 14,000 barrels of oil in rural Kansas, the biggest U.S. spill in nine years.
The pipeline from the Canadian province of Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast has since reopened, except for the segment that ruptured between Steele City, Nebraska and an oil storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.
The shutdown reduced the flow of Canadian crude to Gulf refineries, but it has had little impact on Canadian oil prices, partly because of ample storage in Alberta.
Calgary, Alberta-based TC said it would provide an update on when service will resume when it is able. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) approved the restart plan, TC said.
Neither TC nor PHMSA has publicly identified the cause of the spill.
Frigid weather at the spill site may slow work, TC said.
Spill clean-up may take weeks or months, even as the pipeline restarts.
Clean-up workers will remain on site despite the cold, although some may work remotely, said Curtis Carey, spokesperson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Skimmers, pumps and other equipment were removed from Mill Creek on Wednesday to prevent them from freezing, he said, but added that workers were deploying other equipment more suited to the cold.
