The 622,000 barrels per day (bpd) pipeline was shut after it spilled 14,000 barrels of oil in rural Kansas, including into a creek. Bitumen tends to sink in water, making it harder to collect than oils that float.

The rupture on Dec. 7 is the third in the last five years for the Keystone Pipeline, and the worst of the three, with cleanup expected to take weeks or months.

The response team has so far recovered 7,233 barrels of oil from Mill Creek.

TC Energy was not immediately available for a comment.

(Reporting by Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)