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BP 'was warned' of corrosion
The Australian ^ | August 10, 2006 | Sheila McNulty, Houston

Posted on 08/14/2006 8:48:08 AM PDT by PA Engineer

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".

On May 22 2004, Chuck Hamel, an advocate for BP workers in Alaska, took the charges directly to Walter E. Massey, chairman of the environment committee of BP's non-executive board of directors.

In the letter, Mr Hamel told Dr Massey that in the previous four years BP employees and contract workers had brought to him concerns about safety, health and threats to the environment at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

"They seek to see the corrosion problem addressed and corrective action undertaken without further delay and before any of their colleagues at Prudhoe are harmed," he wrote in the letter, a copy of which was given to the Financial Times.

Mr Hamel warned Dr Massey that, as a board member, he owed it to shareholders to investigate. He said he would facilitate interviews with the BP engineers and corrosion experts if his committee provided assurances they would not suffer retaliation.

On July 27, 2004, Dr Massey wrote to Mr Hamel urging him to provide BP management "sufficient specificity" but without offering the requested protection.

The workers told Mr Hamel that Vinson Elkins, BP's Houston lawyer, went to Alaska with questions that seemed aimed more at identifying whistleblowers than uncovering corrosion.

Dr Massey referred questions by the FT at the time to BP, which gave assurances that corrosion was under control.

On Tuesday, BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell said: "I know there have been concerns raised about adequate corrosion inspection program raised by Hamel over time. We have looked into those."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: alaskanpipeline; bp; corrosion; energy; energyoil
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To: PA Engineer
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.
21 posted on 08/14/2006 10:38:45 AM PDT by Eva
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To: kidd
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.
22 posted on 08/14/2006 10:43:46 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: Eva

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


23 posted on 08/14/2006 10:46:02 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: ASOC
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.
24 posted on 08/14/2006 10:51:48 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: PA Engineer
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 : )

25 posted on 08/14/2006 10:53:33 AM PDT by ASOC (The phrase "What if" or "If only" are for children.)
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To: PA Engineer

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.


26 posted on 08/14/2006 10:56:43 AM PDT by Eva
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To: PA Engineer
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....

27 posted on 08/14/2006 11:02:17 AM PDT by ASOC (The phrase "What if" or "If only" are for children.)
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To: ASOC
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.
28 posted on 08/14/2006 11:14:14 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: Eva
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.

29 posted on 08/14/2006 11:16:01 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: PA Engineer
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.
30 posted on 08/14/2006 11:25:43 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer
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To: thackney

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.


31 posted on 08/14/2006 1:46:18 PM PDT by Eva
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To: PA Engineer

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


32 posted on 08/14/2006 5:10:46 PM PDT by dr_who_2
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To: PA Engineer

thanks...great explanation...


33 posted on 08/14/2006 5:55:31 PM PDT by stylin19a
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To: dr_who_2
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.
34 posted on 08/14/2006 6:24:49 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: PA Engineer

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.


35 posted on 08/14/2006 6:31:55 PM PDT by kittymyrib
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