The British Columbia branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is investigating an Oct. 11 explosion on an EnCana natural gas pipeline 50 kilometers east of Dawson Creek near the British Columbia border with Alberta. Sabotage is suspected, the authorities said.

According to the RCMP, an “explosive device” was detonated, which damaged but did not rupture the 12-inch diameter steel gas line. The explosion created a six-foot crater in the ground.

“It appears to have been deliberately set at a point where the pipeline emerged from the ground,” the RCMP said. The explosion, said police, “occurred just off a dirt road,” about five kilometers from Highway 52 and about 50 kilometers from the town of Dawson Creek.

The RCMP said a hunter came across the site on Oct. 12 and told authorities that he had walked to the same location the previous day and did not notice the crater, which points toward the explosion occurring sometime over the previous night.

“A suspicious letter was received by a local media outlet on Oct. 10 advising local oil and gas companies to cease production and leave the area,” the authorities said. “RCMP contacted local oil and gas businesses to advise them of the letter. It did not contain any specific threats.”

The EnCana pipeline carries sour gas to the company’s Steep Rock gas plant, which began operation in 2006 and is the largest gas processing plant to be built in British Columbia in the past decade. The RCMP, which has brought in a number of divisions to investigate, said the incident is being treated as a serious criminal act as it posed a threat to the pipeline infrastructure.

“It was moving about 60 million [cubic feet] a day, so on a relative basis it’s a small pipeline,” said Alan Boras, a spokesman for EnCana. “It did not breach, there was no break, there is no leak, there was no explosion or fire.”

He added that the line was depressurized and not in operation. “It will need to be repaired before it returns to operation,” Boras said. “The first priority is the RCMP are conducting an investigation. They are doing their investigation at the site, because this is a criminal act. They are obviously leading the investigation.”

©Copyright 2008Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.