Premier Wab Kinew visited the Imperial Oil terminal in Gretna Monday, getting an on the ground perspective of the work underway to maintain fuel supplies after the pipeline between the Gretna terminal and Winnipeg was shutdown in the middle of March.

"We're here at the Imperial Oil facility in Gretna, Manitoba," stated Kinew in a video posted to social media Monday afternoon. "Right now, as you can, there's a lot of trucks coming through filling up with gasoline. This has to do with the pipeline repair that's going on."

Imperial Oil announced last week offloading capacity at the Gretna fuel terminal had been upgraded, and work was now underway at the Winnipeg terminal. Once completed, the upgrades will increase the volume of fuel that can be transferred from rail to truck for distribution to retailers.

"Very grateful for all the people doing hard work here, keeping the economy moving, keeping the supplies going," continued the Premier. "We're on the ground just making sure we've got your back as the people of Manitoba."

The line was shut down after inspections earlier in the year led the company to make the proactive decision to carry out preventative maintenance to ensure the continued integrity of the line. The affected section of pipeline to be replaced is located south of St. Adolphe and runs under the Red River. It's expected the work will take about three months, and as of last week, Imperial indicated it was on schedule.

Imperial’s Winnipeg Products Pipeline transports gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to customers in the greater Winnipeg region. Imperial and third-party customers ship on the line. 

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