BP PLC planned Wednesday to inspect a major pipeline in Prudhoe Bay after two mishaps forced the line to be shut down – another setback for the operator of the crippled oil field, the Associated Press reports.
The first incident occurred last Thursday, days after BP began shutting down much of the nation’s largest field following the discovery of corroded transit pipe, which carries market-ready oil to the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
A drilling rig was traveling on a gravel road when some of its tires sank in a soft spot. The rig tilted, coming several feet from a pipeline that typically carries 20,000 barrels of crude oil, natural gas and water daily from wells at the Point McIntyre field north of Prudhoe Bay. Such gathering lines are among a vast network of wells, pipes and processing facilities used in production of the oil destined for the transit pipe involved in the partial shutdown.
