- Alberta’s energy regulator over the weekend ordered Cnooc's (NYSE:CEO) Nexen Energy subsidiary to immediately suspend operations of 95 pipelines in northern Alberta for non-compliance surrounding pipeline maintenance and monitoring in its Long Lake oil sands project.
- The suspension order comes amid an investigation into an accident reported in July involving a ruptured pipeline at Long Lake that spilled 31.5K barrels of crude oil, wastewater and sand, which forced Nexen to halt production of 9K bbl/day of heavy oil and raised questions about the safety of its operations.
- It is unclear how production might be affected by the suspension; Long Lake continued to produce ~50K bbl/day and run its facility for processing heavy crude even after the leak that shut-in production at its Kinosis 1A site.