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Canada's crude-by-rail exports rose 8.9% after Keystone pipeline outage

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Canada's crude-by-rail exports rose 8.9% after Keystone pipeline outage

Exports of Canadian crude oil by rail rose by nearly 12,400 barrels per day in December 2017 after TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone pipeline network suffered a rupture that put it out of commission for two weeks.

Crude shipments to the U.S. on rail cars averaged 152,151 bbl/d, in December, up 8.9% from 139,754 bbl/d in November, according to National Energy Board statistics. Rail exports averaged 136,531 bbl/d in October, the last full month before the Keystone pipeline rupture. December is the most recent month for which the NEB has publicly available statistics.

Despite the pipeline outage and a widening of the price difference between Canadian heavy crude and benchmark U.S. crude, the nation's total crude exports climbed to 3.44 MMbbl/d in December from 3.21 MMbbl/d in November and 3.25 MMbbl/d in October. TransCanada's Keystone network connects the oil sands hub of Hardisty, Alberta, with Steele City, Neb., and Cushing, Okla., and has a capacity of about 590,000 bbl/d.

Keystone has operated at a reduced pressure since it started back up, limiting total volumes. The outage in November hit amid a surge in heavy oil production from facilities like Suncor Energy Inc.'s Fort Hills project, which was started before the slump in oil prices hit in late 2014.