BP Cleaning up North Slope Oil Spill

Published Mar 20, 2006 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

BP told inspectors it was aware corrosion in a pipeline months before it burst, but believed the threat to be "manageable." An inspection last fall revealed corrosion in the line and led officials to step up their schedule of inspections, said Maureen Johnson, BP Exploration Alaska's senior vice president of the Greater Prudhoe Bay Unit.

Ms. Johnson said corrosion was seen in the 34-inch oil transit line in a September inspection but it appeared to be occurring at a "low manageable corrosion rate."

A leak was discovered March 2, and now covers two acres of remote and frozen tundra on Alaska's north coast near the Beaufort Sea. As of Monday, crews had recovered about 60,000 gallons of an estimated 201,000 to 267,000 gallons of spilled crude.

Spill investigators also found significant damage - especially in low spots of the pipe - that likely occurred within the last six to nine months. Similar problems have not been found in other lines downstream and elsewhere in Prudhoe Bay, and Johnson said it appears the highly corrosive conditions were unique to that line.

"Clean-up operations continue around the clock in adverse weather conditions, with temperatures sometimes reaching 50 to 70 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) with the wind chill," noted the company.

A 60-person clean-up crew had recovered nearly 53,000 gallons of liquids--a figure that includes snow and ice scooped up in the process. A special metal sleeve has been bolted to the damaged GC-2 transit line, and workers are set to weld it in place Friday, weather permitting, the company said.

Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in the U.S., typically pumps approximately 470,000 barrels a day. Crude from the field is carried via the Trans-Alaska pipeline over the Brooks Mountain Range to a tanker terminal in Valdez on Alaska's Prince William Sound.