Kansas residents hold their noses as crews mop up massive U.S. oil spill - Reuters

WASHINGTON, Kan., Dec 10 (Reuters) - Residents adjacent the tract of the worst U.S. lipid pipeline leak successful a decennary took the commotion and odor successful stride arsenic cleanup crews labored successful near-freezing temperatures, and investigators searched for clues to what caused the spill.

A dense odor of lipid hung successful the aerial arsenic tractor trailers ferried generators, lighting and crushed mats to a muddy tract connected the outskirts of this farming community, wherever a breach successful the Keystone pipeline discovered connected Wednesday spewed 14,000 barrels of oil.

Pipeline relation TC Energy (TRP.TO) said connected Friday it was evaluating plans to restart the line, which carries 622,000 barrels per time of Canadian lipid to U.S. refineries and export hubs.

"We could odor it archetypal happening successful the morning; it was bad," said Washington nonmigratory Dana Cecrle, 56. He shrugged disconnected the disruption: "Stuff breaks. Pipelines break, lipid trains derail."

TC Energy did not supply details of the breach oregon accidental erstwhile a restart connected the breached conception could begin. Officials are scheduled connected Monday to person a briefing connected the pipeline breach and cleanup, said Washington County's exigency preparedness coordinator, Randy Hubbard, connected Saturday.

OIL FLOWS TO CREEK

Environmental specialists from arsenic acold distant arsenic Mississippi were helping with the cleanup and national investigators combed the tract to find what caused the 36-inch (91-cm) pipeline to break.

Washington County, a agrarian country of astir 5,500 people, is astir 200 miles (322 km) northwest of Kansas City.

The spill has not threatened the h2o proviso oregon forced residents to evacuate. Emergency workers installed booms to incorporate lipid that flowed into a creek and that sprayed onto a hillside adjacent a livestock pasture, said Hubbard.

TC Energy aims to restart connected Saturday a pipeline conception that sends lipid to Illinois, and different information that brings lipid to the large trading hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, connected Dec. 20, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources. Reuters has not verified those details.

It was the 3rd spill of respective 1000 barrels of crude connected the 2,687-mile (4,324-km) pipeline since it opened successful 2010. A erstwhile Keystone spill had caused the pipeline to stay unopen for astir 2 weeks.

"Hell, that's life," said 70-year-old Carol Hollingsworth of adjacent Hollenberg, Kansas, astir the latest spill. "We got to person the oil."

TC Energy had astir 100 workers starring the cleanup and containment efforts, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was providing oversight and monitoring, said Kellen Ashford, an EPA spokesperson.

U.S. regulator Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) said the institution unopen the pipeline 7 minutes aft receiving a leak detection alarm.

CRUDE BOTTLENECK

A lengthy shutdown of the pipeline could pb to Canadian crude getting bottlenecked successful Alberta, and thrust prices astatine the Hardisty retention hub lower, though terms absorption connected Friday was muted.

Western Canada Select (WCS), the benchmark Canadian dense grade, for December transportation past traded astatine a discount of $27.70 per tube to the U.S. crude futures benchmark , according to a Calgary-based broker. On Thursday, December WCS traded arsenic debased arsenic $33.50 nether U.S. crude, earlier settling astatine astir a $28.45 discount.

"The existent interaction could travel if Keystone faces immoderate (flow) unit restrictions from PHMSA, adjacent aft the pipeline is allowed to resume operations," said Ryan Saxton, caput of lipid information astatine consultants Wood Mackenzie.

Reporting by Erwin Seba successful Washington, Kansas, and Nia Williams successful Calgary, Alberta; Additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar successful Houston, Rod Nickel successful Winnipeg and Stephanie Kelly successful New York Editing by Gary McWilliams, Stephen Coates and Matthew Lewis

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