Spill at Gathering Center II

Kristen Nelson

BP said Aug. 22 that some 30,000 gallons of mostly crude oil which overflowed from a gravity separation tank at Gathering Center II in the southwestern part of the Prudhoe Bay field has been vacuumed up from the steel containment area and that only swabbing down the sides of the tank and removing contaminated gravel from the bottom of the containment area around the tank remains to be done. There were no injuries, Laird said, and because the containment area as an impermeable liner, there was no environmental damage.

The tank overflowed about 6:30 a.m. Aug. 21 and throughput at the gathering center was reduced to about 25 percent of normal rates.

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. spokesman Paul Laird told PNA that it was a control system malfunction and that the fire department responded to check for fire or explosion risk. Vacuum trucks were waiting for the all clear and once fire department personnel had determined there was no risk of fire or explosion the cleanup began.

Laird said BP has not yet determined specifically what happened. The settling tank is outside, he said, and there was also a 2,000 gallon ethylene glycol spill inside the facility which was cleaned up Aug. 21. The ethylene glycol, Laird said, is a type of anti-freeze and while the spills are related, it is not yet known how they are related, he said.

Laird said the gathering center had returned to full production; about 50,000 barrels of production was deferred because of the spill and cleanup.