4 significant pipeline spills last year, oil and gas group says

There were122 oil and gas spills and releases from pipelines last year in Canada four of them significant according to an industryreport released Tuesday.

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"We know that we need to build public confidence and trust in our industry and we think this report will play a big part in that," saidBrenda Kenny, who heads theCanadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA).

The report comes of the heels of a massive spillfrom aNexenEnergy pipeline south of FortMcMurrayin July, which ranks asone of the biggest oil spills in Albertahistory.

A pipeline atNexen'sLong Lakeoilsandssite spilled about five million litres of bitumen, sand and produced water over a 16,000 square metre area.

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Then in August, apipeline owned byCalgary-basedNuVistaEnergyspilled about 100,000 litres of a mixture of water, oil and gas nearHigh Levelinnorthwestern Alberta.

"The shared vision ofCEPAand our member companies is zero pipeline incidents and to demonstrate to Canadians that we're serious about earning and keeping their trust," Kenny said, noting the industry's99.99%safe delivery record.

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The 2015pipeline industry performance report, which looked at data from 2010 to 2014, says:

• $2.9 billion wasinvested in maintaining and monitoring member pipeline systems in 2013 and 2014.
• 45,306 kilometres of pipelines were inspected in 2014.
• 335 emergency response exercises were held in 2014.
• The rate of injuries to employees has decreased 25 per cent in the last five years.

CEPA member companies operate about 117,000 kilometres of pipeline across the country.

The networkmoved approximately 1.2 billion barrels of liquid petroleum products and 5.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas last year.