The pipeline failure in the US comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, despite environmental warnings and a long history of accidents on the pipeline.
Reuters reported that on the morning of April 8 local time, the Keystone oil pipeline system suddenly suffered an emergency disruption after a leak was discovered in a section running through North Dakota, USA.
According to the Keystone operator, the warning system recorded an unusual drop in pressure, forcing them to isolate the affected section and deploy rescue teams to the scene.
Keystone is a giant oil pipeline of more than 4,300 km long, transporting about 624,000 barrels of crude oil per day from sand mines in Alberta (Canada) to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma (USA). However, since its operation, the pipeline has been continuously hit by serious leaks.
The latest leak occurred near the town of Fort Ransom, about 96 km from Fargo city. A worker at the pumping station said he heard a large engine sound and immediately activated the system to stop after about 2 minutes. The oil has risen to the ground about 274 meters from the pumping station, and emergency rescue units have been deployed.
The cause of the pipeline incident or the specific volume of oil leak is still unclear, but according to local environmental experts, the biggest concern is the risk of pollution of agricultural land and groundwater in the area.
The incident comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to revive the Keystone XL project, a controversial expansion of the Keystone system. Keystone XL was designed to transport large amounts of sand oil - the fuel considered "the dirtiest in the world" - to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Keystone XL pipeline was first proposed in 2008, with the goal of transporting 830,000 barrels/day of oil from Canada to US refineries.
However, public opinion in the US and Canada strongly opposed it, leading to President Joe Biden canceling the project license on the first day of his inauguration in 2021. Many environmental organizations, indigenous groups and scientists have warned about the risk of greenhouse gas leakage and emissions from this project.
According to the 2021 US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Keystone recorded 22 incidents from 2010 to 2020, including 3 oil spills exceeding 378,000 liters in 2017, 2019 and 2022.
Mr. Bill Caram - Executive Director of the Pipe Safety Monitoring Organization - commented: " Keystone's accident history shows that the problems are systematic. On average, a serious incident occurs each year. It is time to comprehensively re-evaluate this pipeline.
This incident is not only a technical issue, but also exposes the confrontation between two approaches: one side is economic - energy benefits, the other side is environmental protection and sustainable development.
While Trump continues to promote the slogan "doing well, drilling well, drilling well forever", climate groups are ringing the bell warning that safety cannot be just an advertisement.
