BP restarts Gathering Center 2
BP restarted Gathering Center 2 at Prudhoe Bay May 25.
The restart occurred early in the morning, said BP spokesman Daren Beaudo, following “a thorough startup procedure and checklist.”
He said BP expected GC-2 to be back to full production rates by the end of the May 26-27 weekend. The shutdown occurred May 21 after a water leak was discovered; some 100,000 barrels per day were affected from 12 well pads, the pads in the GC-2 operating area that provide oil, gas and water to the GC-2 facility, Beaudo said.
The leak was in a weld in 12-inch carbon steel pipe coming from a tank that separates the mixture of oil, water and gas that comes from the wells. Beaudo said the affected pipe “is an integral part of the produced water handling system. Without it, we cannot process the three phases of oil, gas and water.”
Alaska Revenue Department Tax Division records show Prudhoe Bay production at 329,563 barrels May 20; it dropped to 262,673 barrels May 21 and bottomed out at 247,677 barrels May 23. Production climbed to 283,679 barrels May 25, was at 311,630 barrels May 26 and at 351,682 barrels May 28, the range in which the field was producing the first two and a half weeks of the month.
—Kristen Nelson
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