News this morning that an oil pipeline managed by Enbridge exploded caught fire outside Minnesota. Two workers were killed in the blast fire.
Now, normally I wouldn’t pick up on a story like this however, this is an example of how an accident in the wrong place at the wrong time can have a domino effect. This was a leak that was under repair when the accident happened. It does serve as an example of how badly things could possibly go wrong if security of critical infrastructure were to be compromised.
From Bloomberg.com:
Enbridge closed four pipelines that supply an average of 1.5 million barrels a day after a blast yesterday killed two workers. The company said today a fire is still burning at the Clearbrook terminal in Minnesota where the pipelines meet.
“It’s an important pipeline and it’s also where it’s being hit, these pipeline junctions are a nightmare,” said Rob Laughlin, a senior broker at MF Global Ltd. in London. Oil “could go up further if it’s shut for some time.”
Crude oil for January delivery gained as much as $4.55, or 5 percent, to $95.17 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the biggest gain since Oct. 31. The contract, which gained for the first time this week, traded at $94.24 at 10:45 a.m. in London.
“All our lines are shut down until we can safely start up the system,” Denise Hamsher, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based Enbridge, said today by telephone. “At least one or two lines will be shut down for quite sometime.”
[tags]Critical Infrastructure, Oil Pipeline Fire, Infrastructure Damage[/tags]
