[stylin19a]

BP's board and London-based executives were informed of widespread corrosion at the UK oil giant's Alaska field two years before the company was forced to shut it this week, citing "unexpectedly severe corrosion

wouldn't they have had to shut it down then ?

[PA Engineer]

There are remediation methods that could have been used with small section replacements during planned testing and maintanence periods. Depending on the internal pitting (that is a big deprending) the gathering lines may have been saved or at a minimum replaced with a minor impact on production.