Massive repairs (Prudhoe Bay Oil Facility)

Anchorage Daily News ^ | August 8, 2006 | WESLEY LOY and RICHARD RICHTMYER

[Species8472]

BP announced Monday it will replace miles of key pipelines across the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field, and executives admitted the company's program to find and prevent corrosion-caused leaks is seriously flawed.

The announcements came a day after BP decided to shut down the nation's largest oil field, news that drove up crude oil and gasoline prices across the country and raised financial, supply and labor worries in Alaska.

BP executives said the oil outage could last weeks or even months.

One member of Congress, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., blasted BP for allowing sludge and corrosion to mount inside pipelines, causing a leak Sunday that prompted the shutdown.

"It is appalling that BP let this critical pipeline deteriorate to the point that a major production shutdown was necessary," said Dingell, ranking member of House Energy and Commerce Committee.

"BP must take all steps necessary to repair or replace problem pipelines quickly, so the American consumer does not pay for BP's laxity." He called for a congressional investigation.

BP executives, speaking to reporters in Anchorage on Monday morning, again apologized.

[PA Engineer]

You have summed it up nicely.

[Rte66]

They've already been doing that, just not on this specific stretch.

[RobbyS]

Seventy or eight years ago, they were called "book-keepers" and knew their place. But asometime during the '30s, I think, they began to confuse their ability to count money with the ability to make it.

[AFPhys]

"Stunt?. This facility was built 29 years ago and designed to last 20. At that time the Prudhoe bay field was estimated to only hold 9.6 Billion Barrels of oil. As of this date we have pumped more than 14 Billion Barrels."

GREAT POINT!!!

[appeal2]

If they knew this pipeline was wearing out,and they must have after the March leak, why didn't they build a parallel pipeline next to it and take it out of service?

[defenderSD]

Good question. The timing of this pipeline repair and production slowdown is slightly suspicious, being about three months prior to the November congressional election. Could BP have a political agenda that's in play here?

[Mannaggia l'America]

They will keep the process going with bubblegum and baling wire if at all possible.

[RightWhale]

BP is facing lawsuits and Congressional investigation over this. Two weeks ago a report was presented in Congressional hearing. Criminal charges also. This is above politics except as it involves questions of environmentalism, socialism, capitalism.

[defenderSD]

All I can say is the timing of this shutdown, three months before the congressional election, is a little suspicious.

[RightWhale]

The timing over ten years after the last inspection of that stretch of collector is suspicious.

[Old Professer]

Back then we didn't have the EPA and its daughter products.

[defenderSD]

It seems strange that BP started inspections of these pipelines in August (or perhaps late July). All logic would tell them to inspect pipelines at the start of Spring, so they would have all the long summer days and relatively warm weather to repair the pipelines before the cold weather hits in November. I don't understand this sudden inspection of the pipeline in August. Why would they wait until August to do this inspection?

[RightWhale]

That is not known. The oil spill in March alerted every enviro non-profit that could possibly get their tentacles into Prudhoe.

[defenderSD]

The first question I would ask BP at a congressional hearing is, "Why did you wait until the middle of summer to inspect these pipelines?"

[RightWhale]

The collectors hadn't been inspected since 1996. Got to wonder about some things.

[VeniVidiVici]

Anybody ever wonder how dead dinosaurs ended-up near the Arctic to become oil?

[moehoward]

"So how long before BP starts pushing for some tax breaks to help finance the repairs?"

I'm shocked that they haven't already. Since they didn't come out of the gate with it, they must have been assured of it somewhere down the road.

[appeal2]

If that agenda is to get ANWR open then I hope it works. Not sure what else they could be trying to accomplish other than to drive up oil prices more to hurt repubs?

[defenderSD]

I'm thinking along the lines of your last sentence. I'm wondering if this shutdown is a political operation intended to hurt the GOP in November. The timing of the pipeline inspections and this shutdown is suspicious.

[carl in alaska]

I also think the timing of this inspection and shutdown is supicious, because it's about three months before the congressional election in November. Construction projects in Alaska usually have to be completed by the end of September before the snow begins to fall in October. So obviously the best time to inspect an oil pipeline would be in the middle of Spring, so that any needed repairs could start in May and take advantage of the relatively warm weather and long days in the Alaskan summer. I can't imagine why BP would have waited until mid-Summer to inspect those pipelines. People at BP are too smart and too knowledgable to make that mistake, in my view.

BP executives definitely have some exlaining to do about the timing of these inspections and the resulting shutdown of half of Prudhoe Bay production. This could have been an attempt to make the Bush Administration look bad and keep gasoline prices up higher than usual in October, thereby helping the DemocRATs in the congressional election.