Nexen Energy, a large producer of tar sands oil in Canada, announced that a pipeline carrying emulsion -- a mixture of bitumen, water and sand -- had ruptured and spilled over 5 million liters into the company's Long Lake oil sands facility south of Fort McMurray in Alberta. This comes on the heels of the Santa Barbara spill two months ago, where 378 000 liters of oil was released into the Pacific. The Alberta spill is more than ten times this amount.

The company reported that the pipeline and pad site have been isolated and shut, but not before the release affected an area of approximately 40 m x 400 m. This area is mainly within the pipeline right of way which includes muskeg.

In initiating its emergency response plan, Nexen has established containment of the released emulsion and has initiated cleanup of the impacted area. The emulsion has thus far not flowed into a waterbody.

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) staff are on-site to assess the situation, begin an investigation and work with the company to ensure all safety and environmental requirements are met during the response to the incident. There are no reported impacts to the public or wildlife at this time and the AER has directed the operator to implement a wildlife protection plan in the area.