US: Oil pipeline leak slowing, size unclear

CHICAGO: The leak from an oil pipeline near Chicago appeared to be slowing Saturday, and officials were hopeful they would be able to excavate the site soon to determine the cause and exact location of the break, a US Environmental Protection Agency official said.

But how much oil has spilled and when the leak began remained unclear. The leak was discovered Thursday, and on Friday between 200 and 600 barrels of oil were being recovered each hour, said EPA on-site coordinator Sam Borries. A barrel has 42 gallons (156 litres).

Oil was no longer rising to the surface Saturday and crews cut open pavement and dug about 5 feet (1.5 meters) to reach the 34-inch (86-centimeter) diameter pipe. Pipeline owner Enbridge Energy Partners _ which also owns a pipeline that leaked hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a southern Michigan waterway in July _ will drill through the top of the pipe to extract remaining oil, Borries said.

A company spokeswoman said the Illinois leak doesn't appear related to the Michigan spill, but a federal official said it may be too early to tell. The EPA has ordered Enbridge Energy Partners, an affiliate of Canadian company Enbridge Inc., to stop all flow of oil by noon Monday.