Storm in western Canada temporarily disrupts crude pipelines

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Two crude oil pipelines in western Canada were shut down temporarily on Wednesday, the day after stormy weather caused power outages in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

TransCanada Corp's (Toronto:TRP.TO - News) 590,000 barrel-per-day Keystone pipeline, which delivers crude from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, was shut down for a few hours and is now back to operating as normal, spokesman Terry Cunha said.

Market sources said the Keystone shut down was due to a power outage caused by the weather.

Inter Pipeline Ltd's (Toronto:IPL.TO - News) 82,000 bpd Mid Saskatchewan crude oil pipeline, which delivers light and heavy crude into Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, lost power following the storm and restarted on Wednesday afternoon.

"Power has been restored to Inter Pipeline’s MidSask system and we have resumed normal operations," Inter Pipeline spokeswoman Breanne Oliver said.

Fierce windstorms across much of Alberta and Saskatchewan on Tuesday caused widespread power outages and fanned fast-moving prairie fires in some areas.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Tom Brown and David Gregorio)