Another spill: America is clearly having a bad day.

So apparently is BP.

Power outage, spill shuts down Alaska oil pipeline

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 25 (Reuters) - A power outage and resulting oil spill forced the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to shut down on Tuesday, the operator of the 800-mile (1,287 km) oil line said.

The shutdown followed a series of mishaps that resulted from a scheduled fire-command system test at Pump Station 9, about 100 miles south of Fairbanks, said Alyeska Pipeline Service Co, the system's operator.

The power outage triggered opening of relief valves, causing an unspecified volume of crude oil to overflow a storage tank into a secondary containment. There were no injuries, but the work site was evacuated, Alyeska said.

North Slope oil producers have been instructed to cut their flow to 16 percent of their normal rates, Alyeska said.

The article continues:

Alyeska is a consortium owned by five oil companies. Major owners are BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research). Unocal and Koch hold minor shares.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which runs from Prudhoe Bay to the tanker port of Valdez, normally ships about 667,000 barrels of oil daily.

Remember that when Deepwater first occurred, it was supposed to be just a platform fire with no escaping oil.

...unspecified volume...

It's hard not to feel like something more sinister is in play.

Let's do the math in just this hemisphere? I count three Gulf well incidents and one Alaskan pipeline.

If I go beyond, I recall a North Sea incident and one in Indonesia...

Risky business, bad luck, or somebody' doin' somethin'?

EDIT:

Btw, what do you suppose they mean by "a secondary containment"?

[edit on 25-5-2010 by loam]

This article places the spill at several thousand barrels.

Alaska pipeline shut down following oil spill

In comparison to the Gulf, this seems pretty meaningless.

But the question is will the currently reported facts stay the same or change as they did with Deepwater?

Time will tell.

In this article:

The volume of spilled oil is unknown, but estimated at "several thousand barrels".

All has been held within the secondary containment, which has capacity to hold 104,500 barrels, [Alyeska spokeswoman Michele Egan]...said. The amount spilled is "nowhere near" the containment area's capacity, she added.

Let's hope so.

[edit on 25-5-2010 by loam]

reply to post by loam


Secondary containment is a bund capable of holding at least the capacity of the storage tank which stands in it.

Standard proctice for oil containers other than domestic use.

reply to post by PuterMan


Thanks for that. I was editing in the capacity (above), when we cross posted.

So it can hold 104,500 barrels.

[edit on 25-5-2010 by loam]

I used to work for the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Alyeska is pretty good about containing spills along the line. I have confidence they will stay on top of this. Hopefully I am right and this won't turn out to be another major disaster. It is still sad that so much has already spilled out..ugh...Our poor Earth...

whell...

expect gasoline prices to rise And/or oilpacolypse.

This is what? The third spill, now?

Anyone else starting to think this could be a deliberate, coordinated effort?

Hey, this is a conspiracy site.

ETA: I reread the OP and see that he proposed that, already.

I agree.


TheAssoc.



[edit on 25-5-2010 by TheAssociate]

Edit again: I think someone beat you to this one, OP: www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 25-5-2010 by TheAssociate]

Originally posted by loam
Btw, what do you suppose they mean by "a secondary containment"?
[edit on 25-5-2010 by loam]

This particular secondary containment is....

A giant bowl basically around the main tank, its got very tall gravel berms circling the main tank with very thick tyvek style tarps lining it, they are 100% oil resistant and oil absolutely can not pass threw these, the secondary containment can hold a minimum of a 115% of the main takes storage capability.

not a drop of this oil hit the earth it has all been contained.

[edit on 5/26/2010 by Alaskan Man]