Chevron Corp. has shut the pipeline that carries crude oil from Colorado into the Salt Lake Valley to its refinery, after being notified of a pipeline leak at around 8:20 p.m. U.S. central time on Friday.

The leakage in the underground Chevron pipeline in the mountains near the University of Utah led to the spilling of the oil into a rivulet that flows into a popular Salt Lake City park, and thereon into the Jordan River; before finally flowing into the Great Salt Lake.

While Chevron has initiated investigations into the cause and magnitude of the oil pipeline leak, emergency workers have revealed that the shut down has stopped nearly 21,000-gallon oil from leaking into the environmentally-sensitive Great Salt Lake – a key inland water body for migratory birds that use it as resting, eating and breeding place.

Nonetheless, citing Chevron statistics, Lisa Harrison Smith, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ralph Becker, said that, as per the initial estimates, almost 500 barrels of oil had already seeped from the 10-inch line having a capacity of almost 15,000 barrels per day.

Urging a complete disclosure about the cause of the leak, US Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said that his telephonic conversation with Becky Roberts, president of the Chevron Pipe Line Co. unit has revealed that the company is “responding aggressively” to the situation, trying to do “everything they can to fix this as soon as possible.”