Shut: BP leak shuts Alaska output
BP leak shuts output in Prudhoe Bay
BP Exploration Alaska has shut down a flow line and temporarily stopped 1300 barrels per day of output from 11 wells at its Prudhoe Bay oilfield after a leak was discovered, company and state officials said.
The leak was found yesterday afternoon in a pipeline that carries mostly produced water at the eastern side of the 391,000 bpd field, officials said.
"Production impact is minimal and we are working to reroute that into other lines," BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said.
The company hopes the rerouting can be accomplished later today, but poor weather may slow the process, he said, according to a Reuters report.
The volume and contents of the discharge material, the extent of the spill and the cause of the spill were still unknown, state officials said.
A layer of at least four to five feet of snow that is being blown by stiff winds has made the cleanup challenging, said Ed Meggert, on-scene coordinator for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
"The problem is they have an awful lot of snow to remove even to get to where the spill is," Meggert said.
The leaked material could be natural gas, crude oil, produced water or a combination of those materials, according to the department.
Rinehart said the leak was discovered by a worker who noticed what he believed was steam. Upon closer inspection, the worker heard hissing at the line.
It is likely that the spill volume is small, Rinehart said.