CHICAGO — A U.S. affiliate of Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) estimates a pipeline leak this month near Chicago will cost up to US$60 million to clean up.
Enbridge Energy Partners LP said Wednesday its estimate of $40 million to $60 million doesn’t include potential penalties. It said insurance money should reduce the total charge for the cleanup to $10 million to $15 million.
The Sept. 9 leak spilled oil into vegetation, a retention pond and a sewage treatment plant in Romeoville. The line was closed for about a week, disrupting delivery of as much as 670,000 barrels of oil products a day to Midwest refineries and causing a jump in crude oil and regional gasoline prices.
Federal officials have said more than 250,000 gallons of oil (about 950,000 litres) have been recovered from the site. Their investigation is ongoing. Enbridge Energy said it expects remediation efforts to continue through the end of the year.
The pipeline was closed within hours after the leak was detected. Crews replaced a 12-foot (four-metre) section of damaged pipe before the line was reopened.
The pipeline was the third owned by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. to be put out of commission this summer. Enbridge also owns a pipeline from Indiana to Ontario that in July spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a southern Michigan waterway, where cleanup is ongoing.
Enbridge Inc. shares were up seven cents at C$51.69 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.