Keystone Restarts Oil Pipeline After Leak Prompted Shutdown

This image provided by South Bow shows a spill from the Keystone oil pipeline that occurred April 8 near Fort Ransom, N.D. (South Bow via AP)

The operator of the Keystone oil pipeline brought the conduit back into service, putting an end to a weeklong outage caused by an estimated 3,500-barrel spill in rural North Dakota.

Most of the oil released has been recovered and remediation efforts have started, South Bow Corp. said in a statement April 16.

The line will be able to operate at no more of 80% of pressure levels at the time of the April 8 spill.

At the time of failure, the line was transporting 17,844 barrels per hour, or the equivalent of 428,000 barrels a day.

South Bow has safely restarted the Keystone Pipeline System. All details can be found here: https://t.co/M4Ep3fRogs pic.twitter.com/lYQdhEjtOk — South Bow (@SouthBowEnergy) April 16, 2025

The restart, delayed by inclement weather, comes roughly two days after it met all conditions imposed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. South Bow will continue to monitor the system as an investigation into the causes of the spill continues, the company said. Keystone can transport as much as 620,000 barrels of Canadian crude daily to Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.

Written by Lucia Kassai, Robert Tuttle and Ari Natter