Canadian energy company says crude oil has leaked into river

In the meantime, North Battleford is filling all of their water reserves and their water tower, and say they’re also prepared to shut the water treatment plant, if necessary.

The move is described as precautionary.

Ferris said the city is planning to treat water from storm water retention ponds and other reservoirs, which he said would last approximately seven days.

The spill originates from a Husky Energy pipeline leak that is releasing oil into the North Saskatchewan River near Maidstone.

Authorities have recovered at least 40 percent of the 1,572 barrels of oil that leaked into a major western Canadian river, but the spill is still moving downstream and threatening the drinking water of riverside communities, officials said on Sunday.

The official, who did not want to be named, said Husky Energy (TSX:HSE) and the government were placing booms further downstream and increasing skimming to try to remove oil from the water.

North Battleford saw signs of the spill as early as Friday morning and shut down its water intake plant.

Husky says its Q2 production fell 6% to 316K boe/day, as the Alberta wildfires in May forced the shutdown of the Sunrise oil sands operation; it maintains its 2016 production guidance of 315K-345K boe/day, but expects it will be at the low end of the range.

“The spill will require an escalation of action on the part of all parties”, Karen Hill, a spokeswoman for Saskatchewan’s Executive Council, said in an e-mailed statement. The area of the leak must first be dug up and the company does not yet even know the exact location of the leak.

The spilled oil spread into the North Saskatchewan River.

“This is a rare event”.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall also said he didn’t see the Husky spill affecting the case for pipelines.

West said there’s no word yet on what caused the leak or on the size of the breach.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who is pushing for a pipeline to get her province’s oil to ocean ports so it can get to global markets, echoed Wall’s assessment. “Though pipelines remain imperfect in terms of a conveyance of our oil, they’re still the safest way to move oil”.

“Had a spill occurred on rail there might well be injuries involved”.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story.