Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has dispatched its emergency response team to a site in Alberta where a small stretch of TransCanada Corp.’s Nova Gas transmission pipeline has ruptured.

The NEB said it learned of the incident early Tuesday morning and added that the size of the release has yet to be determined. The ruptured pipeline is said to be 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Rocky Mountain House, AB, which has a population of nearly 7,000 people. There is no threat to the public at this time, the NEB said.

Sweet natural gas was released along the pipeline right-of-way and the affected section has since been shut down to prevent additional gas from being released into the environment.

TransCanada officials and first responders have joined NEB at the site of the rupture.

In October, a rupture on a remote leg of the Nova natural gas pipeline grid prompted controlled reductions or suspensions of production at plants served by the system (see Shale Daily, Oct. 18, 2013).

The Nova system is one of the largest in North America. It gathers 66% of the natural gas produced in Western Canada, according to TransCanada.