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Long Lake Facility Will be Closed by Nexen, No Word on Reopening Date

The Long Lake facility operated by Nexen Energy was ordered to stop the operation of 95 pipelines due to recent environmental concerns. The company is closing the entire facility down as a result, because they say it is not possible to comply with the suspension order any other way due to the close integration of the affected pipeline infrastructure to the operations that take place at the Long Lake facility. The suspension of the 95 pipeline operations was ordered by the Alberta Energy Regulator, and Nexen has not given any time line about when the facility will be reopened. The company says it may take up to 2 weeks to completely shut down all of the facility operations.

Nexen spokesperson Diane Kossman discussed the Long Lake facility shut down and said in an email that “because of the complex and integrated nature of our Long Lake operations we’re complying with the suspension order, including providing them with necessary documentation, suspending our pipelines, and shutting down our Long Lake oil sands operations.” Bob Curran, the spokesperson for the Alberta Energy Regulator, explained that even if this was known to the regulator the same decision to suspend operations would have been made. “It would have been irrelevant to our decision making. We didn’t feel the assurance we needed regarding those pipelines. Any associated impacts are irrelevant to this decision.” The suspension will not be lifted by the regulator until the company can prove that they have the capability of maintaining the safety of the pipelines involved and the company has provided sufficient documentation in order to convince the regulator of this.

Nexen Pipeline Rupture Safety System Failure Raises Concern

The failure of the Nexen pipeline rupture safety system has many environmentalists and local residents concerned, and there are still few answers about why the system did not send out an alert earlier than it did. The pipeline and safety equipment are fairly new, not one of the old and outdated systems with a high risk of failure. Senior vice president of operations for Nexen, Ron Bailey, held a press conference last Friday. Bailey stated “This is a modern pipeline. We have pipeline integrity equipment, in fact some very good equipment. Our investigation is looking at exactly why that wasn’t alerting us earlier.” Alberta Energy Regulator officials were on the spill site soon after it was discovered. Some are concerned because the ruptured pipeline was only discovered by chance, because a contractor happened to walk by the site and noticed the spill.

Some are concerned that the failure of the Nexen pipeline rupture safety system shows that the environment is at risk even with new and advanced equipment because a failure is always a possibility. Bailey explained that none of the emulsion had reached any of the waterways or the lake. “One of our key responses is to protect the lake. We are deeply concerned with this. We sincerely apologize for the impact that this has caused.” Coun. Jane Stroub, the representative for part of Anzac, told the media “It’s unfortunate this incident happened but I am confident in the cleanup protocols, and the safety and environmental investigation. Nexen has always been fair to the people of Anzac.” Mayor Melissa Blake commented “I want to make sure everyone is taking the right response. Ensuring it doesn’t happen again is a key priority. There is always concern for the people in the area.”