Nexen spokesman Kyle Glennie says the company is investigating how long the pipeline was leaking before it was shut off.
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It comes as premiers from Canadian provinces are debating a new national energy strategy that could help encourage expansion of pipelines, needed to provide new access to markets for Alberta’s oil sands industry.
The regulator did say that nothing had flown into the water and there were no immediate reports of impacts on the public or wildlife.
Bitumen is a combination of viscous tar sands crude oil and liquid chemicals like benzene that dilute the crude so it can be piped to refineries. The company stated that the leak is now under control and that it has been stabilized.
“We need to stop new pipeline projects before they’re built and focus on building renewable sources of energy that are sustainable and won’t threaten communities, our environment, and the planet”, said Mike Hudema, with Greenpeace’s Climate and Energy team, in a statement.
The subsidiary of China’s CNOOC Ltd said it detected the spill at its Long Lake facility on Wednesday afternoon. In addition to the specific rupture, additional weaknesses in the pipeline are at risk of causing spills in the future for Nexen.
However, AER has asked Nexen to implement a wildlife protection plan in the area.
This spill is larger than the 4.5-million-liter one (1.2 million gallons) that contaminated traditional Lubicon Cree territory in Little Buffalo First Nation in 2011.
Long Lake uses steam to heat up the oilsands bitumen deep underground, enabling it to flow to the surface.
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In a statement about the spill, Greenpeace communications officer Peter Louwe said the leak is “a good reminder that Alberta has a long way to go to address its pipeline problems, and that communities have good reasons to fear having more built”.
