TC Energy Says Fatigue Crack Caused Keystone Spill. Calgary-based TC Energy said it is investigating other sites along its Keystone crude oil pipeline after determining that a 14,000-barrel oil spill was primarily due to a progressive fatigue crack that originated during the construction. The Calgary-based company released the findings after receiving an independent third-party root cause failure analysis (RCFA), as required by regulators. Keystone's spill into a Kansas creek was discovered in late 2022 and prompted a 21-day shutdown of a portion of the 622,000-bpd pipeline, which ships crude from Alberta to U.S. refineries. TC Energy said it has recovered 98% of the spilled product from the pipeline ()and cleaned up 90% of the Mill Creek shoreline. The company said the RCFA report found the fatigue crack came from a girth weld connecting a manufactured elbow fitting to the section of pipe constructed across Mill Creek. The girth weld was completed at a fabrication factory and met applicable standards.
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