BP Pipeline Closed Due to Spill

British oil and gas major BP has shut off the crude production of 100,000 bpd in Alaska, after an oil spill at a pipeline, the company said Thursday.

The spill took place earlier Thursday at a BP-operated transit line on Alaska's North Slope, between Gathering Center 2 and Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay's western operating unit. Output at the 100,000 b/d gathering facility and the wells that feed into it were shut in because of the leak, BP spokesperson Daren Beaudo told Dow Jones Newswires.

BP is now looking to initiate a clean-up plan for the leak, although the hazardous and combustible nature of crude was complicating matters, Beaudo said.
BP's Prudhoe Bay operations normally produce 470,000 b/d of crude. The output transfers into the Trans-Alaska pipeline.