Gas leak in Canada curbs oil production

The Canadian National Energy Board said it was working to respond to the rupture of a natural gas pipeline operated by TransCanada in Alberta. The NEB said it was notified by TransCanada of a leak on its Nova natural gas pipeline Thursday. The site of the release is about 85 miles west of Fort McMurray in Alberta province. "The size of the release has yet to be determined by the NEB," the regulator said in its latest statement Thursday. "There is no immediate safety concern for local residents and precautions are being taken to ensure continued public safety." Several oil companies in Canada reported operational problems following the incident because their energy supplies were disrupted. Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reports Imperial Oil Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., and Syncrude Canada Ltd. were all impacted by the rupture. The newspaper reports approximately 943,000 barrels per day worth of oil production were curtailed by the incident. Energy companies extracting so-called oil sands use natural gas for production operations. TransCanada was quoted by the newspaper as saying some natural gas deliveries were restored to "most of its industrial customers in the area" by late Thursday.