Magnitude 5 Quake Strikes Close to Largest U.S. Oil Storage Hub
BloombergNov. 7, 2016
A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Oklahoma on Sunday near the largest U.S. oil storage hub, prompting some pipeline companies to shut down operations at the site as a precaution.
The tremor occurred 2 kilometers west of Cushing at a depth of 5 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. Magellan Midstream Partners LP, a pipeline operator, is working through a controlled shutdown of its assets in the area, spokesman Bruce Heine said in an e-mailed statement. There was no damage to its assets and it expects to resume operations on Monday, he said.
All companies that run intra-state pipelines that fall under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have shut down operations as a precaution, Matt Skinner, a public information officer for the OCC, said by phone. Magellan typically discontinues operations to check the integrity of assets if an earthquake over a certain strength occurs, Heine said. Kinder Morgan Inc., another pipe operator, isn’t aware of any impact on its Cushing operations, Richard Wheatley, a Houston-based spokesman for the company, said in an e-mailed statement.
The OCC’s Pipeline Safety Department has been in contact with pipe operators at the storage terminal, and there have been no immediate reports of problems, the OCC said in an earlier advisory on its website. ...
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