Leaking Enbridge oil pipeline may drive up Midwest gas prices

CHICAGO (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered Enbridge Energy Partners to stop the flow of oil from its leaking pipeline outside of Chicago by noon Monday.

EPA said that Enbridge crews have contained oil spilling from the pipeline, which begins in Superior, and are trying to determine how the leak happened.

EPA spokeswoman Anne Rowan said the pipeline was leaking an estimated 200 to 600 gallons of crude per hour.

The Houston company does not have a timetable for restoring the line to operation but is working to divert its volume to other pipelines and storage facilities.

The company said the pipeline was transporting about 459,000 barrels per day of heavy crude when the leak occurred. The 34-inch pipeline can transport as much as 670,000 barrels per day of oil products from Superior to Griffith, Ind.

Earlier this summer, more than 800,000 gallons of oil leaked from an Enbridge Energy Partners pipeline into a creek that feeds the Kalamazoo River valley about 60 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich.

The closure of the pipeline near Chicago, which delivers oil to Midwest refineries, boosted oil prices more than $2 a barrel on Friday amid concerns about how long the supply may be disrupted.

Although oil and gasoline inventories are plentiful, oil traders are concerned that Midwest supplies could tighten if the pipeline stays closed for some time, analysts said.

That could send retail gasoline prices higher in the upper Midwest, perhaps as much as 30 cents a gallon, depending on how long the pipeline is out of operation.

Tags: oil leak, daily updates, news, superior, local