Pump station leak shuts down Alaska pipeline

[Mark Maker]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

The 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline is shut down due to a leak at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope.

North Slope oil producers have been asked to cut their production to 5 percent of normal.

An oil line encased in concrete leaked an unknown quantity of crude oil just outside a booster pump building, according to Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. spokeswoman Michelle Egan. Alyeska operates the line and its pump stations.

A crew doing a routine inspection noticed the leak this morning and Alyeska shut down the pipeline at about 9 a.m., Egan said.





Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/01/08/1638862/pump-station-leak-shuts-down-pipeline.html

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Better buy gas tonight before they can raise prices in the morning.

[pam4water]

1. OH just great, BP still runs it. n/t

[Dappleganger]

2. Don't worry, the ground will absorb it...

and the eskimos can use the extra oil for heat inside their igloos.

/s

[Arctic Dave]

3. Not good. Right when drilling was set to ramp back up.

[social_critic]

4. Minor leak inside the pump station basement

it looks like a minor leak - the oil leaked inside a pump station basement, it's all contained within the building. It should be back on by tomorrow.

[Arctic Dave]

5. The basement? LOL

Do you work in Prudhoe?

[sarcasmo]

6. 4 dollar gas by Friday?

[bigworld]

7. If the oil companies had their way when this was built

something like this could turn into a disaster. The Alaska Pipeline was built with pretty much draconian environmental safeguards in place -- and they've insured it's continued to be run pretty smoothly even after all these years.