By Mike De Souza
CALGARY, July 20 (Reuters) - The builder of a ruptured Nexen
Energy oil sands pipeline in Canada that caused one of North
America's largest oil-related land spills said on Monday it had
followed the design plans it was given for the infrastructure.
Surerus Pipeline Inc, a contractor based in Fort St. John in
British Columbia, "had no involvement in this project after the
completion, so whatever Nexen's doing, they're doing," said Sean
Surerus, vice president of the company, said in an interview.
"The project was completed to the standards. We were the
installers. ... We had no design capacity in the project."
Nexen, a subsidiary of China's CNOOC Ltd 0883.HK ,
discovered last week that the double-layer pipeline, built in
2014 south of Fort McMurray in Alberta, had leaked more than
31,500 barrels of emulsion - a mixture of bitumen, water and
sand - onto an area of about 16,000 square meters.
Oil sands, as these naturally occurring deposits are called,
are found in large quantities in Alberta, and require large
amounts of energy and water to extract and process into heavy
grade oil.
The Nexen leak was larger than the July 2010 rupture of an
Enbridge Inc ENB.TO pipeline which spilled an estimated 20,000
barrels of crude, with some reaching Michigan's Kalamazoo River.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FACTBOX-Largest on-land related spills ID:nL2N0ZX1QL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
The latest spill dealt another blow to the oil sands
industry, which is under fire from environmental groups and
aboriginal communities for its carbon intensive production
process.
Nexen took responsibility for the spill and apologized last
week. ID:nL2N0ZX11B But it has not determined when the leak -
discovered by a contractor walking along the pipeline route -
started or why a new state-of-the-art leak detection system
failed.
The Alberta Energy Regulator is investigating the incident
and has ordered Nexen to clean up the spill and test the
surrounding area for contamination. It declined to say whether
it has started questioning Surerus or the engineers who designed
the pipeline.
The engineering firm, French-based ITP Interpipe, said it
could not provide an immediate comment.
Martin Olszynski, a law professor at the University of
Calgary, said Nexen could face fines of up to C$1 million
($769,408) under provincial environmental laws.
His estimate was based on a precedent set last year by
Plains Midstream Canada, a subsidiary of Plains All American
Pipeline PAA.N , which agreed to pay C$1.3 million in fines to
settle two Alberta spills in 2011 and 2012.
($1 = 1.2997 Canadian dollars)