This message was caused by DEMOCRAPS: They care more for Caribou then they do about your family and you!
Posted on 08/08/2006 4:38:02 PM PDT by John W
WASHINGTON - When British Petroleum (BP) shut down a vital oil pipeline, the company blamed "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in transit pipes. Yet only five months ago, BP's aging pipeline created the largest-ever oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope.
Federal regulators blamed the spill on "internal corrosion" and said in some areas the walls of the pipes were so corroded they were almost paper-thin.
So critics and industry experts say the latest problem was hardly a surprise.
"I think this was predictable and preventable," says Phil Flynn, an energy analyst with Alaron Trading Corp.
In fact, allegations about BP's maintenance practices have been so persistent that a criminal investigation now is under way into whether BP has for years deliberately shortchanged maintenance and falsified records to cover it up.
The criminal probe was triggered by Chuck Hamel, a longtime nemesis of the oil companies and advocate for oil workers.
"They're playing the Russian roulette up there," he says.
Hamel says a dozen past and current BP employees came to him claiming they'd been told to cut back on a chemical put into the system to retard rust and corrosion, and to falsify records. A federal official confirms that many of these workers have also talked to the FBI.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Bush's fault ?
This is nothing but MSNBC hog wash. The real problem is that we have been prevented from drilling for oil on both USA coasts and in Alaska by the Democrat Party. That's the problem. End of story!!! Treason is what's thats called!!!
Nope it's BP.. that makes it Blair's fault.
This would not have happened if John Kerry were president.
"Was The BP Pipeline Problem Preventable?"
That thorny question was long ago presented to the real experts-the lawyers. Which means we'll never know.
"Hamel says a dozen past and current BP employees came to him claiming they'd been told to cut back on a chemical put into the system to retard rust and corrosion, and to falsify records. A federal official confirms that many of these workers have also talked to the FBI."
I'm interested in what the investigation finds.
On US soil?
OK, so BP shows that it is so inept that it can't manage the drilling effort going on now, so of course the problem is that they haven't had a chance to drill more. Sorry but BP through it's criminal ineptness has set back the cause of drilling in ANWAR for a decade. Anytime someone tries to make the case that drilling can be done in an environmentally sound manner with minimal impact to the wildlife, all the other side has to say is "BP" and it makes him out a liar.
Was The BP Pipeline Problem Preventable?
Let's see.....................
height of the "summer driving season"
Oil, gas at record highs.......................
the opportunity to lay off a bunch of workers and increase profits in the interim.......................
do some regular maintenance that should be done sometime anyway.......................
a governing body that will look the other way.............................
Nope, no chance this could have been done ANY other time in the 21st century.
The Prudhoe Bay facility was constructed 29 years age with a design life of 20 years and planning to pump a total of 9.6 billion Barrels of oil. To this date we have pumped 14 billion barrels and exceeded the design life of the project by 9 years in a harsh arctic environment. No suprise at all that there is a lot of corrosion in the system.
You may be right.
No way.
When ANWR comes on line, assuming the TAPS is still capable of carrying oil, gasoline will be 29.9 cents like the good old days. Forever.
That's what the straight man will say in the intro to the next sappy insipid BP commercial.
Just imagine how many repairs BP could have funded if they had spent 1/2 the money they spend on global warming tv/print spots on preventative maintenance.
Quit talking rationally. It upsets the conspiracy nuts.
I thought the pipeline has actually helped to increase the Caribou population because it gives off heat and the more animals spend time around it, hence more mating.
or about $2.75 in todays dollars! LOL
Good eat'in too!
Living in denial, you are my friend.
Me too.
Hamel says a dozen past and current BP employees came to him claiming they'd been told to cut back on a chemical put into the system to retard rust and corrosion, and to falsify records.
If this turns out to be true...well, I'm forever amazed at the flipping idiocy of people who can't see the inevitable result. Penny wise and prison foolish.
Sure.. it's a British Company and obviously it's poorly run because Blair is in power.. he can't handle Iraq and he can't handle his oil companies.
It's because Bush and Blair our friends that Blair must of paid off Bush to look the other way since it was on U.S. soil.
Blair's fault and Bush is the scapegoat.
Sarc off.
BP Environmental management systems
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=2011367&contentId=2016619
"Corrosion management
BPXA spends about $50 million annually to monitor, locate, repair and manage the effects of corrosion that occurs when an electrochemical process breaks down steel. On Alaska's North Slope, we operate thousands of steel vessels and most of the 1,600-plus miles of pipelines that carry oil, water and gas from wellsites through processing facilities and ultimately to sales or injection points. We semi-annually review our corrosion plan with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Under the plan, corrosion managers direct corrosion mitigation resources to protect and extend the life of the assets.
Internal corrosion rates have declined 90% since 1992. The annual inspection program consists of approximately 100,000 locations. Internal corrosion inspections have remained relatively constant with about 60,000 inspections per year. The external corrosion program was substantially increased in 2002 from the historical level of more than 13,000 locations per year to about 35,000 locations in 2003. External corrosion was the cause of a 6,000-gallon oil and water spill in Prudhoe Bay in May 2003. The line was shut down for several days and repaired, and crews completed site cleanup. BP has committed to the state oversight agency to gather soil and water samples to assess the natural attenuation of the site through the summer of 2005.
There have been some unexpected sulfate reducing bacteria creating new problems.
From the earlier spill this year:
BP: Learning from oil spill lessons
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/573947058.shtml
Systems and system narratives are great.Actual recordkeeping of what really happened will be more important in the criminal investigation.
Thank you for the input.
I pay about the same for a gallon of milk and I don't think I'm being "screwed over" by cows!
And in the last 5 years, BP has sucked in over 60 Billion Dollars In Profit...
If the life expectancy was 20 years, there's no excuse for not having a new system in place ready to switch over...Oh, except for greed...
Start drinking 5-10 gallons of milk a day and heat your house with warm milk, you might start singing another tune, Or, buy your own cow...
Not my cup a tea, but heh, and you got some big horns to hold on to...
When would you have shut dow our largest oilfield to replace the pipeline? Just curious as to when the optimun time would have been
"Start drinking 5-10 gallons of milk a day and heat your house with warm milk, you might start singing another tune, Or, buy your own cow..."
The environmentalists would outlaw cows if you could power an SUV on milk
Wow, 60 billion. For perspective,what was their profit as a percentage of revenue? How does that percentage compare to the average corporate profit?
If the life expectancy was 20 years, there's no excuse for not having a new system in place ready to switch over...Oh, except for greed...
Greed? Being shut down for months at a loss of $28 million dollars per day in revenue doesn't sound like greed. It's more likely that their monitoring of corrosion was inadequate or corrosion conditions in the pipe may have suddenly changed, e.g. the new occurence of sulfate reducing bacteria resulting in higher concentrations of hyrdogen sulfide gas, which especially in the presence of CO2, can rapidly accelerate corrosion.
Replacement should be an ongoing process. Build a one-mile bypass pipe and replace the main line. When that section is complete, move the whole operation down the line and work on the next mile of pipe.
Doing it that way can't be any more expensive than the amount of money BP claims to be "losing" every day the corroded line is shutdown. It's called common sense and planning.
If any of this BS was truly on the level, every BP employee and manager in charge of maintenance and upkeep would be replaced. This is a dog and pony show to keep pump prices jacked up.
Our lines are all wrapped. Generally it's a break that is the real revealer. No system is pefect but slapping in a temporary by-pass and a couple extra valves seems like an alternative.
People pay a buck for 12 oz of water and think nothing of it. Too lazy to fill a bottle with tap water. Walk to the store to save gas?? Yeh, right!!
First off, BP is not the average corporation...The country is not dependent on the Keebler or the Chef Pierre Pie corporations to keep afloat...We don't have to eat pies and cookies...
AND, my complaint was not on the amount of their profit...My complaint was that since this company has such a massive top line, it certainly could have spent some of the massive profits on maintenance and replacement of bad parts especially since the system was well beyond it's life expectancy...
With the massive profits, I wouldn't be surprised that BP will actually save money thru tax loopholes with the dowtime to repair the system...
I would suspect this crude goes into, or has the capability to go into storage tanks somewhere along the line...I assume that would have been part of the initial planning stage to compensate for any maintenance operations...
A scheduled repair would be far less costly in downtime compared to shutting down and replacing the entire piping system...
To all of you out there commenting on BP and its ineptitude. This subject is/was being discussed earlier today at this link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1679898/posts
One of the points discussed there happens to be which pipeline was the problem. I have noticed that the current discussion does not even come close to where the problem lies.
So you contend that they haven't spent anything on maintenance or replacement parts over the last 29 years. Interesting, but I'm certain that is not true.
With the massive profits
It sure sounds like you have a problem with big profits, but you don't even know if they are massive if you can't tell us their net percentage or return on investment. Are you sure you're posting on the right website? Here's a tip for you - if their profits are so massive, you should buy their stock, then you can benefit from them instead of complaining. But don't make too big of a return or somebody will start complaining about you.
I wouldn't be surprised that BP will actually save money thru tax loopholes with the dowtime to repair the system
I'm sure BP is overjoyed that they have shut down production and are losing revenue at the rate of $28 million per day. With those huge loopholes, do you think there's any incentive for them to even start shipping oil again?
How is the crude supposed to get to or leave the tanks if the tranport pipeline is leaking?
The same way it got to whereever it goes before they shut the lines down...
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