BP’s pipeline neglect led to rupture, report says
Posted on February 27th, 2009
GreenWire: BP PLC has neglected a natural gas pipeline through the Alaskan tundra that ruptured last fall in the Prudhoe Bay oil field and hurled hunks of mangled steel pipe across the tundra, a new state report criticized.
No one was injured in the pipe burst, but photographs show the violence that occurred with the 9-inch-diameter above-ground pipe burst, releasing pressurized gas and sending pieces of pipe in all directions.
“All parties agree this is a very serious incident — had the high pressure gas pipeline failure occurred under slightly different circumstances, the results would have been catastrophic, potentially with loss of life,” the report says.
The rupture was the result of what has become a persistent problem for BP — corrosion eating holes in Prudhoe Bay’s vast and aging pipeline network.
BP executives have acknowledged lapses in pipeline maintenance, and the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to replace miles of bad pipelines and improve upkeep. But the corrosion-related accidents continue. Last week, nearly 2,000 gallons of water and oil were found to have leaked from a corroded pipe. A cleanup of that spill in under way (Wesley Loy, Anchorage Daily News, Feb. 24). – KJH