Yet another oil spill in Canada

CALGARY, Alberta, May 11 (UPI) -- An oil pipeline in Canada's Northwest Territories that feeds the larger, but broken, Rainbow pipeline was closed because of a minor oil spill, Enbridge said.

Gina Jordan, a spokeswoman for Canadian pipeline company Enbridge, told the Calgary Herald the 39,400-barrel-per-day Norman Wells system was closed because of a spill totaling about four barrels, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

"Certainly we are treating this as a priority," she told the newspaper.

The Norman System feeds the larger Rainbow pipeline, which was closed after 28,000 barrels of oil spills last week. Upstream producers are said to be locked in with few other options for transporting crude oil from the region.

The owners of the Rainbow pipeline are waiting for approval from provincial officials in Canada to restart the pipeline. Loose soil was blamed for the failure that led to the spill last week, one of the largest in decades.

Plains Midstream Canada, the company in charge of the Rainbow pipeline, was scrutinized in 2006 for a 7,500-barrel leak at a section of the same pipeline in Edmonton

Restarting the Norman Wells artery is contingent on cleanup, repairs and the restart of the Rainbow pipeline.