ARCO cleaning 40-barrel Prudhoe Bay oil spill after production line springs leak

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Workers used heavy equipment to scrape up oil-coated gravel in the aftermath of a spill in a North Slope oil field.

A small hole in a production line running from an ARCO Alaska Inc. well sprayed oil across the gravel and tundra for nearly an hour June 10.

Much of the mess was cleaned up the following day.

Ed Meggert of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Fairbanks office said a flow line developed a hole at the edge of a gravel pad of well 29 in drill site 14, on the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay.

The wind blew most of the oil and water mixture across the pad, putting most of the spill on gravel, Meggert said. Some reached the tundra.

ARCO spokesman Ronnie Chappell told PNA on June 14 that an onsite worker spotted the high-pressure leak and immediately called emergency crews to shut off the well. He said the cleanup is continuing, Chappell said.

“We’re still putting together a plan for repairing the line,” he said.

—The Associated Press contributed to this article