BP has spill at Prudhoe Bay from lift line

BP Exploration (Alaska) had a spill April 12 at Prudhoe Bay Drill Site 14 from an artificial lift line.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said BP reported approximately 1.4 million standard cubic feet of natural gas and an unknown amount of crude oil were released as a mist which settled onto the manifold building, pipes, tanks and snow at Drill Site 14. DEC said the cause appeared to be a weld failure in an artificial lift line that transports pressurized natural gas to the drill site for injection. “The exact cause of the weld failure is yet to be determined,” the agency said April 12.

BP estimates that there were fewer than 30 barrels of liquids involved in the spill, Andrew Van Chau told Petroleum News April 13. The liquids were composed of about 30 percent oil and the rest produced water, said Van Chau, BP Exploration (Alaska)’s vice president of external affairs.

Some 40 people are working on the cleanup, he said, and cleaning up in a safe manner is the main focus right now. “There have been no injuries and we want to keep it that way,” Van Chau said.

The line has been shutdown and will be repaired after the cleanup, which is “mostly stained snow,” he said.

DEC said the Greater Prudhoe Bay Spill Response Team was mobilized and 15 response team technicians were brought in initially. Twenty-six responders were flown in later in the day and another three were being brought in from Barrow.

After the leaking line was isolated BP began bringing wells back online.

Heavily oiled, compacted snow was removed from the roadways on the pad using heavy equipment, allowing responders access to more areas, the department said.

BP estimated the oil-impacted area at nearly a mile in length and an average of 300 feet in width. The majority of the oil sprayed on the manifold building, surrounding structures and on the gravel pad area, DEC said, with most of the remaining area lightly misted. Surveyors were hired to accurately map the oiled zone and an aerial photograph of the spill site was scheduled.

—Kristen Nelson