Broken pipeline section on Ocean Man FN removed to examine source of leak

A section of broken pipeline on the Ocean Man First Nation, Sask., has been successfully removed to examine why it leaked.

Last week, around 200,000 litres of oil leaked into a frozen slough on the First Nation, located 80 kilometres east of Weyburn, Sask.

• Tundra Energy owns pipeline that leaked crude oil: province
• Pipelines should have 'an expectation of expiry' says United Steelworkers secretary
• Ministry of Environment, not Economy, should handle pipeline inspection, says environmentalist

Now that the pipeline has been drained of oil and taken out, the pipe will be sent to an outside company for metallurgical testing and an examination of what went wrong.

Pipeline owner Tundra Energy is responsible for reclaiming the site. Right now, crews are pumping out the oil with vacuum trucks.

So far, 180,000 litres has been removed and more than 454 tonnes of soil has been taken away.

No inspections

There is no record of the pipeline, built in 1968, ever being inspected by the provincial government. At the time, pipelines shorter than 15 kilometres were exempt from licensing under provincial law.

The province said records weren't kept of inspections of unlicensed pipelines. Inspections were required to be completed by the companies.

The government added that no incidents involving the line have ever been recorded in the provincial database.