Plains Midstream proposes expansion of pipeline system that leaked in 2012

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CALGARY — A pipeline company that was fined $1.3 million in 2014 after pleading guilty in two separate Alberta oil spills is announcing plans to expand its Canadian system.

Plains Midstream Canada, a subsidiary of Houston’s Plains All American Pipeline, says it is seeking commitments from shippers to expand its Rangeland crude oil pipeline system through Alberta from Edmonton south to the U.S. border.

It proposes doubling capacity to 100,000 bpd between Edmonton and Sundre, about 100 kilometres north of Calgary, while enlarging the system from Sundre south to the border from 20,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd.

The expansions, subject to regulatory approvals and obtaining permits, would be staged into service during the last half of 2019 with full capacity realized in 2021, and would fit in with other projects in Montana and Wyoming to ultimately deliver more Canadian crude to Texas.

In June 2012, Plains Midstream’s Rangeland pipeline ruptured under a river near Sundre and spilled nearly half a million litres of oil, closing popular recreational attraction Gleniffer Lake for three weeks.

In April 2011, its Rainbow pipeline spilled 4.5 million litres of oil in northern Alberta.

The company, which did not immediately return calls for comment on Tuesday, says on its website it spent $110 million on environmental cleanup efforts for both incidents.

The Canadian Press