Enbridge Canadian Pipelines That Are Closed Due To Spill Having Positive Effect On WTI Price; Nice Data Points Regarding Enbridge Pipelines; Implications For Keystone XL

Bloomberg is reporting:

Enbridge Inc.’s shutdown of Alberta pipelines capable of moving 1.17 million barrels a day toward U.S. markets is shrinking output and boosting U.S. crude to the highest level against Europe’s benchmark oil since 2011.

The company’s Athabasca and Waupisoo lines, carrying oil from northern Alberta’s rapidly expanding oil-sands operations to hubs farther south, remained closed today, with the exception of a segment from Cheecham to Hardisty. Nexen Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc., facing transportation limits, cut output.

Restricted pipeline flows to the U.S., dependent on Canada for 25 percent of oil imports, are buoying U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude to the highest level against European counterpart North Sea Brent in almost 30 months. A prolonged outage would support a further narrowing of the WTI-Brent gap, already forecast to shrink to $5 a barrel this year as new conduits bring Canadian and U.S. shale oil to the Gulf Coast. 

Because:

Enbridge, the largest transporter of Canadian crude to the U.S., shut the Athabasca and Waupisoo systems after finding a 750-barrel spill on June 22 from Line 37, a link on the Athabasca system serving Nexen’s Long Lake oil-sands complex.

This provides nice fodder for those who would prefer to see the Keystone XL never built. [8:57 a.m. -- Update: it is now being reported on FOX News:  big contributor to President O'Bama will have financial windfall if the Keystone XL is killed. My hunch: the Keystone XL will be killed by President O'Bama on these grounds: a) there is a glut of pipeline activity, and a glut of oil in the US and more is coming; and, b) it is not proven to "my" [O'Bama's] satisfaction that the Keystone XL would not harm the environment.]