BP's Leaking Oil and Gas Well in Alaska Successfully 'Killed'
April 17 2017 - 2:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
BP PLC and local and federal authorities successfully brought
under control an onshore well on the North Slope of Alaska that
began leaking oil and gas last week, the company said Monday
morning.
"Overnight the Unified Command achieved source control, and
killed the well," Dawn Patience, a BP spokeswoman in Anchorage,
said by email, referring to a task force that included BP, the
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
The total amount of oil spilled and whether the crude affected
the snow-covered tundra nearby isn't yet clear, though authorities
have expressed confidence the crude contamination is contained with
a gravel area directly surrounding the well site.
The spokeswoman for the U.K.-based company said the problems
with the well may have a slight impact on production. "The incident
is unlikely to noticeably impact overall North Slope production,"
Ms. Patience said.
The leak initially was discovered Friday morning when BP
employees saw crude oil spraying out of the top of the well,
located at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. The spray of crude,
along with "minor" oil leakage over the past few days, was fairly
isolated and stopped leaking altogether Sunday, according to a
statement from the Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation.
BP's operations in and around Prudhoe Bay account for about 55%
of Alaska's oil and gas production, according to the company.
The oil giant has had several spills and leaks in Alaska over
the years. A 2006 spill caused by a corroded pipeline released
almost 4,800 barrels of crude, making it the worst oil spill on the
North Slope up to that point in time.
A 2009 pipeline problem at a BP oil field in the state released
almost 1,100 barrels of oil. That rupture and spill was a violation
of the Clean Water Act, which meant BP had breached the terms of
its plea agreement for the 2006 accident.
In more recent years, BP has faced intense scrutiny over its
role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
that killed 11 workers and created the largest offshore oil spill
in U.S. federal waters.
Write to Dan Molinski at Dan.Molinski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2017 13:45 ET (17:45 GMT)
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