Winnipeg CAO 'confident' about workarounds for fuel pipeline shutdown

Winnipeg's chief administrative officer says Manitobans shouldn't worry about the temporary closure of a pipeline that carries gasoline to the city and communities around it after talks with the supplier left him "feeling good and confident" about the company's plans to work around the issue.

"A discussion around gas can cause people to get anxious, and we just simply don't have any reasons to think anybody should," Michael Jack told reporters Monday afternoon, a day after he sent an email to city council warning about the potential impact of the closure.

"There are a lot of people working 24/7 right now," Jack said.  "We are paid to worry about these things. We don't send them a lot of emails saying 'everything is fine.'"

Imperial Oil announced it shut down a line that runs between Gretna, Man., near the U.S. border, and Winnipeg over the weekend after inspections raised concerns about a section of the pipe just south of St. Adolphe, Man.

Jack sent his email to Winnipeg city council Sunday night, after Imperial Oil issued a statement on the closure.

"Candidly, I don't believe this PR statement accurately conveys the gravity of the situation; we have reason to believe the supply of gasoline products to the entire city (and beyond) may be compromised for a period of time. This is a rapidly developing situation, only having been raised to our attention earlier today," he wrote in the email to city council, which was shared with CBC News by a confidential city hall source.

"I am convening a meeting of my senior management team this evening to determine impacts and to ensure we are doing everything we can from a contingency planning perspective."

In an announcement, Imperial said it "made the proactive decision to carry out preventative maintenance to ensure the continued integrity of the line" following inspections on it earlier this year.

"The work includes replacing a section of the pipeline that runs under the Red River, south of Winnipeg," it said.

The line, which supplies gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to Winnipeg and surrounding areas, will be out of service for approximately three months, the company said.

But Jack said on Monday that he's happy with how Imperial is mitigating the issue, which includes using trucks and rail to transport fuel, and offering alternative terminal locations where customers can pick up their products, including one at the Gretna terminal.

The company also said it's taking "every effort" to speed up the pipeline maintenance work.

"As of today … we're feeling good about the answers we got," Jack said.

In a release Sunday night, the province said the line was not compromised and no materials were spilled into the environment.

The province also said it will oversee the repair work on the line and has convened a "supplier table" made up of Manitoba's largest fuel suppliers to help manage the supply being brought into the province.

At the legislative building Monday, Premier Wab Kinew said the province is relying on other fuel suppliers to fill the void that will be caused by the shutdown.

"The goal is to bring in the same amount of fuel via truck and train — the same quantity, so about 12,000 barrels of gasoline per day when we're talking about the Imperial Terminal in particular — to be able to ensure that there's a continuous supply," he said.

"These are some of the biggest companies in the world, and so we're leaning on them to come up with the supply."

Right now, Winnipeg has one to two weeks worth of fuel, and Kinew said he hopes to have the backup supply in the city before then.

'Not panicking': Jack

Jack said the city is considering what it could do to lessen its fuel usage in the next week or two, in the event that the shutdown does impact gas supply to Winnipeg.

The city has reason to believe the delivery of diesel, which fuels many city vehicles — including transit buses — isn't going to be impacted the same way as that of gasoline anyway, he added.

"If there are things that the city can be doing to lessen its use of gasoline ...  the City of Winnipeg organization wants to do everything it could," Jack said.

The city is also meeting with the province to make sure they're each keeping the public updated.

"I'm certainly not panicking," he said. "We're going to continue to try to learn more."