BP-owned Alaska oil pipeline shut after spill

* 800-mile pipeline from Alaska's oilfields closed

* Pipeline part-owned by BP

* Producers cutting output to 16 pct of normal (Adds details on ownership)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 25 (Reuters) - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline, partly owned by BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), shut down on Tuesday after a crude oil spill, drastically cutting supply out of Alaska's oilfields.

The accident comes at a difficult time for BP -- the largest single owner of the pipeline, holding 47 percent of Alyeska -- as it struggles to plug a gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well

in.reuters.com...

Wow.
Wow.
Just what the Earth needs is another oil spill.

They don't say how much spilled yet, but the pipeline normally moves about 667,000 barrels of oil a day.

[edit on 25-5-2010 by webpirate]

The one in the gulf, the one in indonesia, and now the one here...

How many more can we expect over the next month?

The power outage triggered opening of relief valves, causing an unspecified volume of crude oil to overflow a storage tank into a secondary containment.

It did not get to the ground, they have very large containment's around a tank, with special material the oil can not leak threw, usually these secondary containment's are 8inch to 12 feet high (i know this since i use to make them).


I dont think this spill (it shouldn't even be called a spill) is anything to get even remotely excited about. not a drop of oil hit the earth.



[edit on 5/25/2010 by Alaskan Man]

URGENT-Northslope crude spills from Alaska pipelineMay 25, 2010 9:26 p.m. EDT
(CNN) -- Several thousand barrels of crude oil spilled into a containment area along the Alaska pipeline Tuesday when an open valve at a pump station allowed oil to overflow a tank, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company said.

Alyeska said the incident took place about 10:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET) during a planned pipeline shutdown while the company was conducting fire command and valve leak testing at the pump station.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Protection said a battery failed to control the valve when power was switched from the main grid during Alyeska's tests. The valve has been closed, the department said, but the pipeline remains shut down.

www.cnn.com...

[edit on 25-5-2010 by freetree64]

reply to post by webpirate


It makes you kind of feel bad for BP. What a run of bad luck. I hope things start looking up for them soon. Just think how much pressure they must be under.