Break causes Kuparuk drilling mud spill

A gasket failure on a 2-inch hard line at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River unit Dec. 15 resulted in a spill of some 85 barrels of drilling mud, brine and diesel mixture.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Spill Prevention and Response, said in a situation report that the release was discovered at 4 a.m. Dec. 15.

The 2-inch line runs between the ball mill injection facility and the injection well. The spill affected an area of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 square feet on a gravel pad and a closed reserve pit.

DEC said the spill occurred during normal operations.

The ball mill injection facility was shut down and the hard line isolated, which stopped the release. DEC said the failed gasket was identified and repaired and the line inspected to insure there were no additional leaks.

About one-half of the drilling mud, brine and diesel mixture spilled to a gravel pad and the other half to a closed reserve pit. DEC said the spilled material has frozen and is not spreading.

Alaska Clean Seas responded to the release for ConocoPhillips and is delineating the spill area, DEC said.

A loader and two trucks have removed some material from the gravel pad and taken it to the Drill Site 1H waste storage cell. The closed reserve pit has insufficient ice thickness to support truck operations and that area will be cleared using skid steers.

Hand tools will be used to recover material from piping and other infrastructure along the gravel pad and reserve pit.

- Petroleum News