BP 'was warned' of corrosion

The Australian ^ | August 10, 2006 | Sheila McNulty, Houston

[Eva]

There have been many complaints about the routine maintenance and safety procedures that BP performs, both from employees and contractors. The problem with BP is that they are so bottom line oriented that nothing else matters. They give out yearly bonuses to top management based on increased profit, as compared to comparable departments, through out the company. Consequently, they constantly have bean counters working on ways to cut cost, usually by eliminating jobs, which means fewer people to perform routine maintenance, and longer hours for lower level salaried workers.

[PA Engineer]

BP in the early 90s stopped their smart pig program and moved to sampled ultrasonic tests (cost cutting). I do not like the UT program because it does not address extreme value statistics (pitting failures) unlike smart pigging. The failure I am familiar with first occurred at a caribou crossing (internal). This would have been a predicted failure point because of low flow and water buildup (kind of like a vertical omega).

One point, MIC does not cause corrosion but enables it by reducing hydrogen polarization films and permitting corrosion to occur at a maximum rate.

[PA Engineer]

This is and industry wide problem (corrosion). I know some companies that have gone from quarterly to weekly statements.

[PA Engineer]

While in Russia, I saw pipeline systems that burned some of the product to re-heat the oil for transport - and the system leaked like a sieve in many areas. Pretty nasty stuff. Of course it *was* a workers Paradise.

Funny. I Worked with an engineer who was an immigrant from Russia. He claims to this day that this was an OK approach even if only half the oil pumped is received by the refiners.

[ASOC]

It is not just Alaska

For a quick sample from news feeds

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 Wear caused gas leak in Olympic pipeline But source of spark that triggered fire remains unknown
A pinhole-sized leak caused by wear unleashed thousands of gallons of gasoline that fueled the Olympic Pipe Line fire and explosion near Westfield Shoppingtown Southcenter early Sunday, investigators said yesterday. But the source of the spark that ignited the gas remained unknown

The Druzhba pipeline, a 2,500-mile-long steel straw leading from oil fields in Siberia to consumers in central and Eastern Europe, ruptured on Saturday toward the western end of its journey, in the Bryansk region, near the border with Belarus.

Oil multinationals in Nigeria have shut off 210,000 barrels of daily crude production after an unexplained leak on a shared pipeline, oil industry officials said Tuesday.

Then again - some headlines are outright wrong

Oil Gushes into Arctic Ocean from BP Pipeline (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0321-06.htm)

OTOH - other than crude opipelines leak as well:

DONNER SUMMIT, Calif., April 5, 2005 – The California Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), in cooperation with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP), the United States Forest Service (USFS) and county fire and emergency services, announced today that a section of KMP’s 8-inch diameter pipeline that transports gasoline, jet fuel and diesel from Rocklin, Calif., to Reno, Nev., has been repaired and is expected to resume service Tuesday afternoon.

KMP shut down the pipeline as a precautionary measure April 1, following a report of gasoline odors, and the product inside the pipeline was drained. Investigators found evidence of a petroleum sheen in the area, but no actual accumulation of gasoline. There was no fire or injuries and OSPR representatives have reported no instances of damage to wildlife

Anyway, I could go on. The news folks have thier own agenda, the polititions have their own agenda.

SO long as you have deep pockets, you had better be better than perfect, or at least have good lawyers : )

[Eva]

I don't doubt that the corrosion is industry wide, I just don't trust BP to fix the problem in the best way possible, that will cause the least damage to the consumer. They will be more interested in their own bottom line, trying to make the repairs with as few workers as possible. You have no idea of the problems that are ahead on the west coast, even if the pipeline was reopened tomorrow. Instead of loading two tankers a day, they have been loading one every three days. The ships are sitting at docks in the Puget Sound with no where to go, and no more empty docks.

[ASOC]

It wasn't that it didn't work - it did. Keep in mind, as I understand the way the Russians (Soviet)tracked production was at the well-head. So it did not matter how much was lost in transit, only what was pumped.

The reheat facilies looked like oil covered, smoke bleching monsters. There was alway a fire burning in the 'spill pan' - I only wish I had been able to get some photos of those out of country. The spill photos, I guess, were enough.

The other thing that struck me was the miles and miles of aluminum wire left laying about on the ground. IF one could get the salvage rights....

[PA Engineer]

The other thing that struck me was the miles and miles of aluminum wire left laying about on the ground. IF one could get the salvage rights....

LOL. That was another issue we talked about. Copper was expensive and would not last 24hrs. This was the Russian solution. Very cheap to produce (with rewards for production), but no method or rewards for recycling programs.

[thackney]

Instead of loading two tankers a day, they have been loading one every three days.

The oil flow from Alaska has not decreased anywhere near this amount. Prior to this TAPS was flowing ~820,000 barrels per day. Prudhoe Bay has gone from 400,00 BPD to 150,000 BPD as of yesterday. 140,000 BPD is the lowest the flow went to. The flow out of Alaska has not reduced by the amount you imply.

[hedgetrimmer]

The BP issue is a national security problem

It is precisely why we should NOT sell or lease any part of our vital national infrastructure to FOREIGN COMPANIES.

The American people have no authority over these companies. But the "free traders" are pressing on with even more infrastructure sellout, as in our ports, and the Trans-texas corridor.

[Eva]

Well, I don't know where the oil is going, because they aren't loading it onto tankers. If the oil is still flowing the way you say, CONOCO is being cheated.

[dr_who_2]

Pump, pump, pump while gas prices are high, right?

[stylin19a]

thanks...great explanation...

[PA Engineer]

Pump, pump, pump while gas prices are high, right?

They were pump, pump, pumping when the prices were low. I think the lower margins from a couple years ago effected their T&M intervals.

[kittymyrib]

Where is our absolutely useless Energy Dept. in all this? They have no rules for pipeline polution in Alaska? Let one oil rig in the Gulf dump 10 barrels of oil and the EPA is on them like a duck on a June bug. BP, which also has the most poluting refinery on the Gulf Coast, should be fined millions for not only dumping petroleum onto that "pristine" environment that we can't drill on, but for those lying TV ads that brag about how "green" they are.