This 2010 file photo shows TransCanada's Keystone oil pipeline contruction in North Dakota.
Photograph by: Handout, TransCanada
TransCanada Corp. says it has started transporting crude oil through its massive Keystone pipeline again following a nearly weeklong shutdown.
The Calgary-based company said late Sunday the line was flowing again.
It was on Saturday, just one day after refusing to let the company restart the pipeline that takes oil from Alberta in the States, that the U.S. government relented and gave TransCanada the green light, under "restrictive conditions."
The Obama administration had initially blocked the reopening after an investigation into two spills in less than a month.
That probe had found "serious" concerns about safety in pump stations along the 3,450-kilometre, 600,000-barrel-per-day pipeline.
TransCanada said the pipeline shutdown, which it initiated voluntarily on May 29, stemmed from an "above-ground incident at a pump station in Kansas involving less than 10 barrels of oil."
The U.S. Department of Transportation indicated in a weekend statement that the company has addressed at least some of the government's concerns.
"Restart of the pipeline will be under restricted conditions and closely monitored," the department said.
TransCanada is seeking a permit for the construction of a second major pipeline, the Keystone XL, across the U.S. Great Plains to the Gulf Coast in Texas.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department is scheduled to complete public consultations into an environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL.
Environmental groups and landowners along the planned route of the new pipeline fear a major spill could cause irreparable damage to sensitive ecosystems.
The original Keystone pipeline — which began delivery of oilsands crude from Hardisty, Alta., in June 2010 — has so far had 11 breaks along the 2,100-kilometre U.S. portion of the line.
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