Pipeline leak near Tioga, North Dakota

The Dickenson Press seems to have been the first to report on the leak: Pipeline leak spills 20,600 barrels of oil near Tioga.

The pipeline is reportedly 20 years old.

The farmer reporting the leak smelled the oil for a few days before he saw puddles in the field and oil sticking to his tires.

The leak was initially reported at either 750 barrels or 1,000 barrels, take your pick from news reports. Current estimate is 20,600 barrels.

The Wall Street Journal has more details at Tesoro Logistics Pipeline Spills 20,000 Barrels in North Dakota:

To put the spill into perspective, this is about equal to the amount of spills over the last decade in the state:

The 20,600 barrels of oil released in this spill is nearly as much as all North Dakota spills recorded in the last 10 years combined, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

At around $100/barrel, that’s about $2M of oil. I would hope that the company would notice the drop in pipeline pressure or the disappearance of 2 million bucks of oil.

Cleanup efforts are well underway.  I sure hope the industry learns from this and self-corrects.

As usual, some of the comments on articles elsewhere are astounding in the depths of demonstrated ignorance and intolerance.

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