Keystone Pipeline Repairs Progress as Canada Oil Demand Outpaces Capacity

South Bow Corp. is making progress in repairing the Keystone Pipeline after a leak-detection system flagged a pressure drop near Fort Ransom, North Dakota in April 2025.

The incident resulted in an estimated 3,500 barrels being released from the pipeline. An independent root cause analysis found that the failure was caused by a fatigue crack along the pipe's manufactured long-seam weld, which met industry standards at the time of the incident.

South Bow has completed seven in-line inspection runs and 51 integrity digs since the incident with no injurious issues found so far. The company is open to acquiring complementary pipeline assets and expects Western Canadian oil production to exceed pipeline capacity by mid-2027, which its proposed Prairie Connector pipeline aims to help address.

The Prairie Connector pipeline is designed to move Alberta crude towards U.S. markets and could be expanded to more than 800,000 barrels per day if demand supports it.