PHMSA's Quarterman says probe of Exxon pipeline leak may take months

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, chaired by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), held a hearing on July 14 to focus on the July 1 release of crude oil from the Exxon Mobil Silvertip Pipeline in Yellowstone County, Mont.

It will take several months to investigate the cause of the leak, the U.S. pipeline safety regulator told Congress on July 14.

"We will also ensure that the Silvertip pipeline is free of safety and environmental risks before Exxon Mobil is granted permission to restart the line," Cynthia Quarterman, head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), told lawmakers at a House hearing on the leak.

Quarterman said the Yellowstone River was still too high to examine the pipe that leaked, and it "may take weeks if not months" before the pipeline can be brought up from the river bed.

She added that PHMSA has routinely inspected the pipeline for years. "As recently as June 6-10, 2011, PHMSA personnel performed an integrity management field inspection on the Silvertip pipeline," she said. It reviewed Exxon Mobil's 2009 internal inspection data for the line and found no violations. It did find, however, an anomaly at the river crossing that was below required repair conditions under federal pipeline safety regulations, she said.

ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. exceeded burial requirements for its Silvertip crude oil pipeline in Montana before it ruptured Quarterman said. PHMSA requires at least four feet of cover when a pipeline crosses a river that is 100 or more feet wide. When ExxonMobil performed a depth-of-cover survey in December 2010, it found five feet of cover in the riverbed and 12 feet of cover on the crossing's south side, she said.

On July 13, Exxon said it had begun preliminary work to replace the pipeline segment that ruptured and spilled an estimated 1,000 barrels of oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana on July 1.

Exxon says PHMSA's Silvertip Pipeline restart plan could take weeks

HOUSTON, Texas - Exxon Mobil Corp. said on July 6 it could take weeks to set up a plan to restart its Montana pipeline that leaked crude into the Yellowstone River on July 1.

"The restoration of the line is not the primary focus. It's not something that is going to happen in the next day or week or couple of weeks," said Gary Pruessing, president of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co.

The pipeline delivers oil to Exxon's 60,000 barrel-a-day Billings refinery, which is adjacent to the Yellowstone River. The facility processes crude oil from Wyoming and Alberta into gasoline and ultra-low-sulfur diesel.

PHMSA orders ExxonMobil to improve safety at ruptured Montana pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Federal authorities have ordered ExxonMobil to make safety improvements to a ruptured pipeline in Montana that caused 750 to 1,000 barrels of crude oil to gush into the Yellowstone River.

The cause of the pipeline break is still under investigation, authorities said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a corrective action order to ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. that will require new safety measures along the Silvertip hazardous liquid pipeline, the federal agency said on July 5.

The order will require ExxonMobil to re-bury the pipeline underneath the river bed to protect it from external damage, the federal agency said in a statement. The oil company will also have to conduct a risk assessment on the pipeline where it crosses any waterway. Exxon will then need to submit a restart plan before operation can resume, officials said.

"The safety of our nation's pipelines is a priority and the investigation into this incident is ongoing," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "It is our responsibility to ensure pipelines are safely delivering energy to U.S. households and businesses, and when companies are not living up to our safety standards, we will take action. We will continue to work with the EPA, while ensuring that those responsible are held accountable."

The Silvertip Pipeline is a 12-inch pipeline about 69 miles long that carries crude oil from the Silvertip station in Elk Basin, Wy., to an ExxonMobil Refinery in Billings, Mont., federal officials said.