Pipeline leak spills thousands of barrels of oil in North Dakota

Wall Street Journal : A farmer smelled oil in his fields in North Dakota that turned out to originate from a leaking pipeline owned by Tesoro Logistics. Initially estimated as a relatively small leak of just 1000 barrels (160 m³) worth of crude oil, further study revealed the leak to be the equivalent of 20 000 barrels. That makes it the largest spill in North Dakota in more than 10 years and the largest spill of oil from the Bakken shale-oil fields since production began in 2006. The pipeline itself is 20 years old, but the cause of the leak is not yet clear. The pipeline has been closed, and Tesoro spokesmen said the oil has not contaminated any water sources. Kris Roberts of the North Dakota Department of Health said that a layer of clay contained the spread of the oil and that the environmental impact of the spill is not very significant.