Shell reports Ho-Ho pipeline oil leak

Shell has reported a leak of around 364 barrels into an open pasture in Texas, as a result of a construction crew piercing a section of the Ho-Ho pipeline accidentally.

The 360,000 barrels a day pipeline runs from Port Neches, Texas, to Houma, Louisiana, and was previously known as the Houma-to-Houston line.

Following the incident, Shell immediately closed and isolated the line and deployed emergency crews and first responders. The scale of environmental damage that has occurred is not immediately known.

Shell will continue to work with federal, state, and local authorities as part of its response efforts. It did not reveal when the pipeline will return to being operational.

The pipeline project has completed phase 2 to enable the system to provide US Gulf Coast refineries pipeline access to additional sources of the growing crude production from the inland oil plays in the Eagle Ford, Bakken and other shale regions.

Phases 3 and 4 of the project will add pump stations to increase the capacity of the Texas-to-Louisiana pipeline segments to around 250,000 barrels a day and 375,000 barrels of crude respectively.