Oil spills from Prudhoe pipeline

Anchorage Daily News ^ | November 29th, 2009 10:57 PM | Associated Press

[thackney]

Authorities say an oil spill near Prudhoe Bay contaminated about 8,400 square feet of snow-covered tundra.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Weld Royal said oil cleanup crews rushed to the scene about 1 1/2 miles from a production center on the North Slope around 3 a.m. Sunday.

She told The Associated Press that it still isn't clear how much spilled or what caused it, but the petroleum did not reach the bay.

The spill occurred around an 18-inch pipeline that carried a mixture of crude oil, produced water, and natural gas, but the line was not in operation at the time.

[1010RD]

I love your threads and appreciate your postings. I’ve learned more about the petroleum industry than I’d ever known or could find out alone.

Thanks. You’ve helped me make many liberals miserable with all your hard facts and data. They really hate reality.

[2nd amendment mama]

The 8,400 sq. ft. footprint is less than one-third the size of the footprint of John Edwards’ 28,200-square-foot North Carolina house and the enviros aren’t protesting that. And....the Edwards’ house is permanent....the oil spill is probably all cleaned up by now.

[houeto]

BP reports oil spill near Prudhoe Bay

Just damn!

[b4its2late]

Too bad environmentalists cannot comprehend the immense effort that goes into keeping Alaska “clean and pristine”.

That would be too easy and totally against their radical agenda.

[thackney]

Two points:

First, it is important not to confuse Prudhoe Bay with all of the Alaskan North Slope, although some media reports will mix these terms up. Prodhoe Bay is one of more than 30 fields Oil fields already drilled on the North Slope. But it was the first and was the largest.

Production is reduced, but continues. Currently there are a lot of enhanced oil recovery methods being used to recover more of the oil in place. Prudhoe Bay field is currently expected to recover ~60% of the oil in place, which is very high compared to most fields.

Of the fields already tapped (important distinction) Prudhoe Bay remains the largest remaining reserve with current production technology.

At the time of this report (most current) Prudhoe Bay was producing more barrels per day than any other field. But I believe since then (2006 data) Alpine may have exceeded it.

More info at:
Alaska, Division of Oil and Gas 2007 Report
Section Three, Historic and Forecast Production
http://www.dog.dnr.state.ak.us/oil/products/publications/annual/2007_annual_report/3_HistProj_2007.pdf

[Truth is a Weapon]

In other news, I dropped a dollop of shaving cream on my bathroom floor and wiped it up. That had a greater impact on my house than this spill had on Alaska.

[Fetid Facts]

"8400 ft² = 0.192837 acres"

I noticed the same thing. I guess 84,000 square feet sounds a lot scarier than about a fifth of an acre. What we really need are scientific projections of polar bear and caribou deaths directly related to this enormous environmental disaster.

[ASOC]

LOL

I worked the Komi oil spill (back in 95) - the oil was 3 to 9 meters deep in places. Now, THAT was a spill.

http://www1.american.edu/ted/KOMI.HTM has some of the details - but even this is inaccurate. Up to the time of Gulf War I and Saddam blew the oil perminal, this was the biggest land spill to date.

SPOT has some good images as well.

[El Laton Caliente]

BP has a very good spill responce team up there that is well equipped. I was working in Prudhoe until September this year. People don’t understand just how much effort they put into prevent and respond to spills. BP will not allow a cup of coffee to be poured out on the tundra!

[DWC]

I like hugh and alex.