Enbridge Is Cleaning Up Oil Spill in Wisconsin (Update1)

By Ian McKinnon

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Enbridge Inc., Canada's second-largest pipeline operator, aims to resume partial operation later today of a Wisconsin line that leaked an estimated 500 barrels of oil.

``We expect to begin some oil movement, probably later today,'' spokesman Larry Springer said today in a telephone interview. ``It will come up slowly.''

A four-foot-long rupture early Jan. 1 shuttered the 24-inch- diameter conduit that delivers about 300,000 barrels a day of oil from Canada and the U.S. to several Chicago-area refineries, Springer said.

A preliminary estimate pegs the leak at about 500 barrels of oil and about 80 percent has been recovered, Springer said. The leak was located about five miles (8 kilometers) southwest of Curtis, Wisconsin, the state's Department of Natural Resources said in an e-mailed statement.

The damaged section of the pipe has been replaced and reduced deliveries may begin later today, Springer said. ``There will likely be some restrictions on the operations of the pipe'' as oil shipments resume, he said.

The cause of the accident has not been determined and is under investigation, Springer said.

Shares of Enbridge rose 74 cents, or 1.9 percent, to C$40.81 at 2:41 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The stock gained 14 percent last year.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. is Canada's largest pipeline company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian McKinnon in Calgary at imckinnon1@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: January 3, 2007 15:08 EST

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