AP Photo: Two caribou pause as they walk down a road at the Prudhoe Bay oil field...
Posted on 08/06/2006 6:14:03 PM PDT by mathprof
BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. began shutting down the Prudhoe Bay oil field Sunday after discovering unexpectedly severe corrosion and a small spill from a transit pipeline. ADVERTISEMENT
Prudhoe Bay represents about half of Alaska's oil production and about 8 percent of U.S. production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Company officials said it would take days to shut down the oil field. Once completed, it's expected to reduce oil field production by 400,000 barrels a day.
"We regret that it is necessary to take this action and we apologize to the nation and the State of Alaska for the adverse impacts it will cause," BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone said in a prepared statement.
Officials learned Friday that data from an internal sensing device found 16 anomalies in 12 locations in an oil transit line on the eastern side of the field. Follow-up inspections found "corrosion-related wall thinning appeared to exceed BP criteria for continued operation," the company said in a release.
That's when workers also found a small spill, estimated to be about 4 to 5 barrels.
BP says the spill has been contained and clean up efforts are under way.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
AP Photo: Two caribou pause as they walk down a road at the Prudhoe Bay oil field...
Gas up. Here comes a 20 cent run up in gas prices. This is what happens when we have such tight domestic supply with Dems. standing in the way of getting more. Any small shut down of production will mean we all get screwed. Thanks once again to the Party of Evil and the RINOs who join with them to keep us all with tighter budgets thanks to gas prices
Just how many rich liberals also own oil stocks?I notice their politics doesn't usually stop the annoited from profiting at the expense of the masses.
400,000 barrels is about 4% (IIRC) of the US domestic supply.
So a 4% decrease will equal a 20% increase.
Gas is $3.38/Gallon now (In SoCal), so it should be ap to $4.05 in a week.
Yippee.
It's easy to find out :)
Just go to....
...and look up their financials.
The hypocrites among them do indeed own Big Oil.
The link above is for checking out rich, liberal Congress critters and Senators :)
For how long???????????????????????????????????????????????
Remember BP profits when oil prices go up too. Notice they gave no estimate as to when it might be back in production.
"oh crap" ping
I've enjoyed a nice three day weekend. I just learned I'm going to have a crappy Monday by reading this thread. Most likely, I'll have 5 or 6 Mondays this week.
I do too, and as an BP shareholder it makes my blood boil that they are wasting money on such garbage.
Seems to me major problems ahead.
open the SPR to make up for it, otherwise oil will spike over $80 because of this.
fine the company, don't they do preventative maintenance on these pipelines? they are rolling in profits.
Gee. Wasn't it an explosion at a BP refinery in Texas that sent gas prices rocketing upward a month or so before Katrina hit?
they basically used the pipelines without maintenance, until it corroded all the way through. that's what I read here.
this is why all this stuff about how "the oil companies will plow their profits into R&D and new supplies and new refineries" - is BS, here they don't even use it to maintain the infrastructure they have.
this single action may well cost the republicans any chance in 2006 for the Congress - if it takes gas to $4 through November.
it will be back in operation only after they milk profits from the coming price increase.
fine them 100 million per day until its back in service, that will light a fire under their a*s.
the mullahs are laughing their a*sses off in Tehran tonight.
This is a maintenance item....pipes corrude,...they monitor them and they found they need to do some maintenance....
Jeez!
Explains the Friday price bump in St. Louis. Most stations were selling regular at 2.84-2.89, while almost all BP stations went to 3.19 on Friday. Local talk radio had several "experts" on who had no explainations for the price increase. Supposedly, average prices have come down due to competition today, but I need to fill up tomorrow morning--we'll see.
gasoline alert!
"fine the company, don't they do preventative maintenance on these pipelines? they are rolling in profits."
They will be severely punished because of the oil spill, even though it is only a small amount.
You don't seem to understand, what BP is saying is that the time, expense and effort to get permission to replace this pipeline isn't worth it, even if it does shut down oil production.
These guys don't want to NOT pump oil out of the ground, it's the government that is making this impossible.
Exactly. This is what's going to happen alright. Don't forget the Dems and Envirowackos are the reasons we don't have more refineries to begin with, which would keep the necessary supply required to meet the demand. Years ago, many of the companies, BP included, chose NOT to invest in building more refineries because it was so cost-prohibitive due to all the regs put into place. I understand we need regs, but the regs the wackos want are insipid and ludicrous.
Only if they have actual product to sell. Other oil companies are probably glad this happened, but I doubt BP is.
Maybe they need to assess the situation before making any firm predictions. BP is hardly profiting by shutting in their own production. Other oil companies who will continue to deliver oil will benefit perhaps, but not BP.
The hurricaine season ain't panning out, nature ain't cooperating - oceans too cold. Someone had to step-in and do something. Only two years left - make $$ while big oil shines !
"it will be back in operation only after they milk profits from the coming price increase"
No. It will be back in operation after the state of Alaska, and all the Native corporations realize they will get less royalty money and will have to tighten their belts.
They will make sure the ridiculous environmental requirements for building and maintaining oil production infrastructure on the north slope are relaxed, and fast.
what you say may well be generally true.
But I don't see anything here that tells me that state regulators shut down the pipeline based on some specious environmental regulation - the company determined it was structurally unsound (corroded), and leaking. how they let it get that far is the issue.
The headline is misleading!
"Only two years left - make $$ while big oil shines !"
Only two years left? You know something the rest of us dont?
the key word is PREVENTATIVE maintenance. anyone can do maintenance when the thing goes to hell.
I change my car's oil every 5K miles, I don't wait for my engine to seize.
"they need to do some maintenance"
You can't just "do some maintenance" on the north slope. they have an onerous permitting process. They've said that the risk of continued operation exceeds the potential profit of the oil in the ground at that field.
Reduce the cost of the risk, and they will reconsider.
So Prudhoe Bay is the only place BP drills for oil?
Pray tell, how does one do maintenance on an old pipeline?
It lasts until it wears out.
huh? oil is $75/bbl, and the company is saying it doesn't pay to do maintenance on the pipeline.
where are you reading in this article that government regulation is preventing maintenace related repairs/replacement?
"internal sensing device found 16 anomalies in 12 locations in an oil transit line on the eastern side of the field."
12 separate locations with wall thinning isn't exactly 'routine maintenance'
just when the price had finally gotten down below three bucks!
well, I had fully expected to pay 5 bucks a gallon this summer anyway.
guess I better go fill up all the vehicles tonight!
you build an alternate one right along side of it, with a diverting valve at the pumping stations.
What should they do that they did not do?
The old "fix it when it breaks" preventive maintenance plan.
WHAT? This IS preventative maintenance. A 5 bbl spill, and weak spots in the pipeline discovered, requiring a shutdown to replace the corroded sections of the line.
Rolling in profits?? They have shut down 400,000 bbl/day of production. They will have to replace the corroded sections of pipeline. I am not sure how the extra expenses and (at only $60/bbl) $24 million A DAY LESS revenue is going to keep them "rolling in profits", maybe you can explain this accounting system to me???
They should fined for this??? I suppose they could just keep going until the pipeline ruptures and they spill a couple hundred thousand barrels of oil instead of a couple hundred gallons. Then it would not only have to be fixed, but there would be a real mess to clean up instead of a couple of bathtubs full.
" how they let it get that far is the issue."
One can presume they took all the normal precautions. This sounds like the pipeline needs replacement - and it's not cost effective to do so. It's the same story over and over......environmental regs make US production non-viable
how do power companies perform maintenance on electrical infrastructure, without causing blackouts? don't you think that telephone companies replace cabling and equipment, without taking your phone down?
That's not maintenance. That's replacement. Do you keep a spare transmission hooked up to your engine as part of your routine maintenance?
"you build an alternate one right along side of it, with a diverting valve at the pumping stations."
Sure sounds simple. Ok, get back to me when you have the environmental impact report completed, and don't even think about touching a square inch of permafrost until then. See ya in 3 years.
You are equating transmission wires with a pipeline?
build pipeline sections next to the ones requiring maintenance, divert the flow, and replace the aging sections.
now what are they going to do? the flow will be stopped totally, they have no other means of flowing it, and they have to go in there on an emergency basis and replace it. and who knows how many sections they are going to find like this.
ROFL!
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