Pipeline leak at Nexen Energy's Long Lake Operation spills five million litres of emulsion

A pipeline leak at Nexen Energy’ s Long Lake oilsands operation about 36 kilometres south of Fort McMurray has spilled approximately five million litres of emulsion - a mixture of bitumen, water, and sand into a pipeline corridor containing muskeg.

In a statement released this afternoon, Nexen said the leak was discovered on Wednesday afternoon and that the five million litres [approximately 31,000 barrels] covers about 16,000 square metres in a pipeline corridor. The statement says the leak is under control.

“Our emergency response plan has been activated and our response personnel are onsite. The leak has been stabilized and the site is under control,” read the statement. “All necessary steps and precautions have been taken, and Nexen will continue to utilize all its resources to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, the public and the environment, and to contain and clean up the spill.”

The AER’ s statement says that the pipeline corridor includes muskeg, but no bodies of water have been affected by the spill, and that there are no reports on the spill impacting wildlife or the public.

Peter Murchland, spokesperson for the regulator, told the POST the organization was informed of the leak on Wednesday afternoon, and that AER staff are on the scene to investigate.

“We’ ve since immediately sent our staff and experts to the site to assess the situation, to initiate an investigation, and work with the company to ensure all safety and environmental requirements are met during the response to the incident,” he said.

Murchland said that this was one of the largest spills the organization had responded to in recent memory.

“Occasionally there’ s incidents like this where there’ s a larger volume - some of them are smaller, but this particular one was large,” he said. “In the last year and a half or so, it’ s certainly one of the biggest, if not the biggest.”

The POST called Nexen Energy's Calgary headquarters but no one was available to answer questions. We will update this story when more information is available.