BP gets ‘first step’ OK for bypass line

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – BP PLC has received permission from a state agency to use a bypass line to possibly restart some production from the shuttered eastern side of Prudhoe Bay.

However, other agencies also must approve the plan, and BP hasn’t decided whether to even use the bypass system, spokesman Steve Rinehart said Monday.

The plan approved late last week by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska would allow BP to divert oil through Endicott Pipeline Co. lines to the trans-Alaska pipeline. This would allow additional production of 105,000 barrels a day.

The entire Prudhoe Bay oil field had produced more than 400,000 barrels a day