A Trilogy Energy pipeline leak has spilled an estimated 250,000 litres of oil emulsion, a mixture of oil and water, into an Alberta wetland near Fox Creek, according to the company.

Although the spill was first reported on October 6, neither Trilogy nor the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) released any information about its size until this week.

Trilogy initially reported the spill covered three hectares, the equivalent of 21 tennis courts in a remote wetland location some 15 kilometres outside Fox Creek.

“Less than half of that is impacted by actual oil staining,” John Williams, president and chief operating officer of Trilogy, told DeSmog Canada in an interview Friday.

Williams said the spill volume estimate was based on aerial surveillance of the spill location as well as measurement on the ground of oil spread and depth.

“Oil gets caught in the grass and water tends to flow down and separate,” Williams said.

“We provided the AER with our best estimate and AER will validate our numbers based on how we got to that calculation,” he said.

“That’s their indirect way of saying ‘that’s not our number, that’s Trilogy’s number, so if there’s a problem don’t get upset with us,’ “ Williams said.

An update published on Trilogy's website indicates the company is still working to confirm the volume of the spill. 

The AER recently initiated an investigation into the spill, something Williams said is simply due process.

“We knew the enforcement action was coming,” he said. “That’s part and parcel with cleanup.”

“We’re cooperating fully.”

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator the company’s leak detection system did not notify Trilogy of the spill. Instead inspectors doing a routine flyover spotted the leak from a helicopter, Williams said.

In July, the regulator requested pipeline operators to improve their leak detection systems after a review of 23 major pipeline spills found spill detection was unnecessarily delayed by poor training and a lack of monitoring.

On average it took pipeline operators 48 days to respond to and isolate leaking pipelines, the regulator found.

It is unknown when the spill from Trilogy’s remote pipeline began.

According to Williams, the company, in coordination with the AER, has shut in and excavated the portion of the pipeline responsible for the leak.

He said Trilogy has sent a two-metre section of the six-inch pipe to a laboratory in Edmonton for inspection.

“That is something that could take as long as a month” to review, Williams said.

He added that although he has seen pictures of the excavated pipe, he was unable to see the precise location of the leak.

“When we excavated the pipe we wanted to make sure there was no catastrophic failure or underground explosion or anything like that,” he said.

“It wasn’t spewing out, that’s for sure.”

Trilogy manages more than 1,000 kilometres of pipeline in Alberta, Williams said.

At 250,000 litres, or 1,573 barrels, the Trilogy pipeline spill is among the larger recent pipeline spills in Alberta.

In April 2011, nearly 4.5 million litres of crude oil spilled from a Plains Midstream pipeline into muskeg northeast of Peace River near the community of the Little Buffalo First Nation.

In June 2012, Plains Midstream spilled 461,000 litres of sour crude oil into the Red Deer River, a source of drinking water. The company was fined $1.3 million for violations of Alberta environmental laws in 2014.

Also in June 2012, an Enbridge pumping station spilled 230,000 litres of oil on a company site near Elk Lake.

In April of 2014, a Canadian Natural Resources Limited pipeline spilled 70,000 litres of oil and processed water into the surrounding environment at a remote location northwest of Slave Lake.

In November 2014, 60,000 litres of crude oil spilled into muskeg from another Canadian Natural Resources Limited pipeline.

One of the largest leaks in Alberta history occurred on July 2015 when a Nexen pipeline spilled 5 million litres of oil, water and sand emulsion from a pipeline at the Long Lake oilsands facility near Fort McMurray.

Image: Trilogy Energy

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

A crude oil pipeline operated by Trilogy Energy Corp has released an unknown volume of oil emulsion, a mixture of oil and produced water, into surrounding marshland, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator.

Trilogy employees conducting a right-of-way inspection on the pipeline, located at the company’s Kaybob Montney oil project near Fox Creek, Alberta, discovered the spill on October 6.

Both the cause and volume of the spill remain undetermined.

An Alberta Energy Regulator spokesperson told DeSmog Canada that an inspector and staff are on site to ensure “an appropriate response to the incident” but could not provide more details on the spill.

An update published on Trilogy Resource’s website Tuesday evening says the pipeline has been shut in and purged to contain the source of the leak and added, “the volume of the spill has yet to be determined.”

The company, managed by Calgary Flames co-owner Clayton Riddell, estimates the spill currently covers three hectares of land, the equivalent of about 120 tennis courts, in a remote area. 

In 2011 a spill from a pipeline operated by Plains Midstream contaminated just over three hectares of beaver habitat and muskeg in a remote area near Little Buffalo, territory of the Lubicon Cree First Nation, after releasing 28,000 barrels of oil, almost 4.5 million litres, into the environment. It is considered one of the largest oil spills in Alberta's history.

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Trilogy Energy spill location made the incident difficult to respond to.

“It’s tough to access. It’s really densely vegetated. The past few days have been spent creating an access to the impacted area so the crews can begin the deliniation [sic] and remediation work,” a spokesperson for the regulator told the Edmonton Journal.

Cause & Volume of #OilSpill in #Alberta Wetland Still Unknown 6 Days In https://t.co/GcYdBb4Lm7 #cdnpoli #ableg @carollinnitt

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) October 13, 2016

“Trilogy has developed a diversion plan that will minimize the infiltration of surface water and prevent further disbursement of oil,” the update from the company reads.

“Environmental specialists, wildlife experts and crews are on site assessing the situation, working closely with the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).”

“Sampling and monitoring, recovery, waste management and wildlife and water control plans have been developed and are pending AER approval.”

The statement adds the company is collecting water and soil samples and that wetland and environmental assessments are ongoing. The company says efforts are in place to monitor and deter wildlife from entering the spill zone.

According to research conducted by the Florida State University, oil companies consistently underreport oil spill volumes, especially in instances of small spills and in remote areas.

In July, Husky Energy drew criticism for failing to properly report a pipeline spill that contaminated the North Saskatchewan River, a major source of drinking water.

An incident report on the Alberta Energy Regulator's website claims “there have been no reported impacts to wildlife” from the Trilogy pipeline release, although a spokesperson told the Edmonton Journal that response crews found two dead birds at the spill site as well as impacted beaver lodges.

A request for comment from Trilogy Resources went unanswered by time of publication.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.