Nexen says the explosion was the result of work being performed outside the scope of approved work activities. The company idled an upgrader at the Long Lake site after an explosion in January killed two people. The company concluded that the rupture happened on June 11 — about a month before it was discovered by a contractor — was a result of an incompatible pipeline design for the muskeg ground conditions. Nexen Energy says it is laying off about 350 employees after shelving plans to restart a facility at an Alberta oilsands operation that was damaged in a fatal explosion earlier this year. The company has also finished an investigation into a pipeline leak last year that spilled about five million litres of bitumen, sand and produced water over a 16,000-square metre area.

Source: CBC News July 12, 2016 16:30 UTC