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BP transfers top Prudhoe manager



By Upstream staff 

Photo by AP


Oil major BP has shuffled the management ranks at its troubled Alaska unit again, transferring the top manager for the Prudhoe Bay oilfield just a month after reassigning the duties of the head of its Alaska business.

Maureen Johnson, senior manager at BP's Greater Prudhoe Bay business unit for the last three years, is now being sent to London for a new assignment, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

A BP Alaska spokesman was not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.

BP's Alaska operations have been under intense scrutiny since March of this year when a corroded transit pipeline on the western side of Prudhoe Bay ruptured, spilling over 200,000 gallons of crude onto the Arctic tundra in the worst onshore oil spill ever on the Alaska North Slope.

The discovery of further corrosion in another transit pipeline in August prompted congressional hearings where BP managers were accused of neglecting routine maintenance at the field, a charge denied by BP.

BP also faces a criminal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency which is looking into possible violations of the Clean Water Act.

BP has vowed to overhaul its entire US operation, which has been dogged by scandal since a deadly explosion at its Texas City, Texas refinery killed 15 workers and injured scores more.

BP said at the end of October that Steve Marshall, the head of its Alaska unit BPXA, was being reassigned. At the time, company officials said the transfer had nothing to do with the operational problems in Alaska.

A BP spokesman was quoted by the Anchorage Daily News saying that Johnson's transfer was not related to the problems at Prudhoe Bay. A manager from BP's North Sea unit in the UK is being appointed to replace her, the paper said.


Friday, 01 December, 2006, 17:28 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 01 December, 2006, 17:28 GMT

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