Tundra Oil and Gas discontinues lawsuit against pipeline designer

The president of a Winnipeg-based energy company says the corporation is seeking to discontinue a lawsuit against pipeline manufacturers stemming from a 2015 oil spill near Waskada, Man.

Ken Neufeld, president of Tundra Oil and Gas, said the $5-million lawsuit was launched by one of the company's insurers without the company's knowledge. The company was named as the plaintiff in the suit.

The February 2015 spill amounted to about 1,200 barrels of an oil-water mixture near Waskada, about 275 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

While the statement of claim filed in January alleged the pipeline designers were at fault, Neufeld said he didn't support those allegations.

"We have followed up with our adjusters and our brokers, and they have gone all the way back to the insurer, who agrees that this action's been very badly handled, that it was wrong," Neufeld said.

He also dismissed other allegations in the statement, including that the manufacturer hired incompetent workers, used poor materials and failed to inspect the line, a responsibility Neufeld said doesn't fall to the manufacturer.

Neufeld called the entire statement of claim "very poorly constructed and written."

Neufeld said the company is awaiting confirmation the suit has been discontinued.