Corruption Sorry, Corrosion On The Pipeline
Well, this could get messy if it lasts:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – In a sudden blow to the nation’s oil supply, half the production on Alaska’s North Slope was being shut down Sunday after BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. discovered severe corrosion in a Prudhoe Bay oil transit line.
BP officials said they didn’t know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line. “I don’t even know how long it’s going to take to shut it down,” said Tom Williams, BP’s senior tax and royalty counsel.
I expect to see prices spike quite a bit today. Oh great. I’m not surprised that there is corrosion, I mean the pipeline’s been exposed to the elements up there 30 years, but geesh louise you would have thought they would/should have inspected it a tad more closely and caught this earlier.
World Stuff | Mr. Bingley | 
August 7, 2006 7:55 am
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If “oil from Alaska doesn’t make a difference so we shouldn’t drill in ANWR,” then how come loss of the oil from Alaska makes prices go up? I hope we drill in ANWR sooner rather than later.
There have been a couple of leaks/spills recently, and BP got (appropriately) hammered for lax inspections/maintenance of the pipeline. The discovery of this corrosion now is no surprise, it is the logical consequence of increased inspections. I do not “question the timing,” because the timing makes perfect sense.
See my notes in the comments in the post above about “sheesh, ya think they woulda…”