Alaska oil spill may signal wider problems

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Alaska officials are investigating the cause of a pipeline rupture on the North Slope earlier this week that they say could be a sign of more widespread corrosion problems at the state’s aging fields.

The 4,284-gallon spill from the ConocoPhillips line on the Kuparuk field was caused by rare rust on the outside of the pipe beneath a layer of insulation, according to preliminary findings by the company and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.


“It’s definitely gotten our attention because it’s a different type of corrosion. Is this an indicator of what’s going on throughout the field, or not?” said Leslie Pearson, emergency preparation and response program manager for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Other recent leaks from North Slope pipelines have been from internal corrosion after inadequate internal ‘pigging’ inspections, including the small hole in BP’s western Prudhoe Bay line that caused a 200,000-gallon oil spill in March 2006, the North Slope’s biggest.

Reuters