By JT Marshall/CKOM Staff

U of S prof. says Husky pipeline burst not a one-time event

Nov 19, 2016 | 10:20 AM

After Husky Energy called their oil pipeline failure a “one-time event,” a University of Saskatchewan geologist says similar conditions are likely.

Professor Grant Ferguson, who has conducted numerous riverbank movement studies on the North Saskatchewan River, said slope failures, which allegedly caused the incident, could happen again.

“I wouldn’t want to bet money on slope failures to not happen again. It’s going to happen. I just don’t know when,” he said.

The Husky Energy report, released Thursday, said their pipeline bust due to a “sudden, one-time event in a section of the pipe that had buckled due to the force of ground movement” and was not the result of any material defect, corrosion or deficiency in the pipe itself.

When the pipeline was installed in 1997, a third-party assessment concluded the area was not geotechnically active.

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However, Ferguson said the situation has changed.

“Over the past five to six years the province has gone through a wet phase,” he said. “I think that’s been pegged with a lot of the slope and stability failures around riverbanks.”

In the report, Husky claimed they’ll take steps to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.

“I expect, going forward, there will be tougher environmental monitoring for slopes and ground movement around pipelines,” Ferguson said.

Looking to the future, he said it’s impossible not to build pipelines which don’t cross water, but the process can be improved.

“Going forward maybe we should get better instruments to prevent spills, come up with better designs or locations to build pipelines.”

jmarshall@rawlco.com
On Twitter: @JTMarshallCKOM

by JT Marshall/CKOM Staff

U of S prof. says Husky pipeline burst not a one-time event

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