Oil thread 9-7-06:Former BP head of Pipeline invokes 5th

[Eos]

Originally posted by: monk3y
Time to fill up...

Too late. Our local high price fueling station jumped prices up 2.6% in one day. From $3.10 to $3.18 for regular unleaded.

I was going to work Sunday morning and I was shocked by the numbers on the sign.

 

[Vic]

/looks at calendar

/shakes head

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: astrosfan90
Out of curiosity, are oil companies under some sort of obligation to produce oil and sell it?

Is there some law requiring them to produce and refine a certain amount every day/month/year?

If not, how is this any different from any other company out there stating that due to problems they're having, they're going to be temporarily cutting production?

There's the problem. They can do whatever they want.

Perhaps we should order Intel to sell their chips at a certain price/profit function, or force Pulte to sell homes in the same way. Perhaps we should mandage corn and milk producers.

Seriously Dave, sometimes I don't know where you draw the line between authoritarianism and democracy.

I draw the line at record profits based on incompentcy.

Because you so obviously have had a perfect career and are the CEO of a networking company?

Mistakes happen, you are far from perfect.

 

[GoPackGo]

You know this will be the excuse they will need to take us to $4 a gallon.

 

[blackangst1]

Personally I cant seem to firgure out why so many people are upset at record profits and extrordinarily high CEO salaries. Lets put this into perspective. These are for the most part public companies. Shareholders EXPECT high profits. If a CEO delivers, he SHOULD be rewarded. Where am I wrong?

Every time I read headlines like this my eyes light up. It means more $$$ in my IRA. You see, 3 years ago I moved almost all my investments into energy mutual funds. Guess what? 2004- 31%. 2005- 24% so far this year- 19%. I've enough money in dividends to pay for my gas for the next 10 years. Why dont you people quit complaining and get in on the profits?

I just dont get it.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: libs0n

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: libs0n

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
solution to energy "crisis":

more nuclear power plants - ~50% of the US still runs on coal, which puts more radioactive material in the atmosphere than a nuclear plant

end of media oil shortage FUD - canada is our #1 importer overall for petroleum/petroleum-based products, and has potentially more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia

expansion of US oil drilling

Although natural gas production levels are something to think about, the "energy crisis" we face is a liquid fuels one, and not an electrical one. Although I am in favour of nuclear power, specifically integral fast reactors if they existed, know the dragon you face. Nukes won't save us.

Yes, we here in Canuckistan have truckloads of oil, perhaps even more so than the Saudis, but our production of that oil will never meet the demand crisis. In a world that consumes 85 or so million barrels of oil a day, Canada produces maybe 4, and perhaps if things go our way that number will hit 5 in a decade or two. Know the difference between reserves and production.

Oil production in the US peaked in the seventies, it will never come back, and no amount of drilling or wishful drilling will change this reality. All future American oil usage increases must come from either new production elsewhere, or using production currently allotted to other consuming nations, with the latter being more likely in the decades ahead of us.

For serious hyrogen production nuclear power (nuclear heat specifically) is currently the only real answer. Solar may eventully help out, but the costs have to come down or the efficency has to go up a lot before it is viable.

Hydrogen is a red herring, thrown out by car companies anxious to avoid the smart move of a legislative increase in gas mileage, and enthusiastically embraced by those inclined to theorectical technical solutions to all our problems. Yes, it would be nice if our transportation network ran off of something electricity could convert into, but the cold stark reality is that no cars run off hydrogen, and a change to a car fleet that does will take far longer than the timeframes we have to live with.

So, again, an increase in the construction of nuclear power plants will not reduce oil demand, therefore I stand by my comment that nukes won't save us. Understand the difference between electricity and oil consumption; understand the difference between reserves and production of those reserves. Live in the real world.

Did I ever say that hyrogen was the total answer to todays fuel problems? No, I didn't. The only realistic alternative fuels are currently ethanol and biodiesel (given the right feedstocks). Both require minimal to no changes to transportation and distribution systems.

Of course it would take a couple decades at least to switch any meaningful percentage of our transportation systems to hydrogen. Hydrogen is impractical now as the only economic ways to produce it are reforming it from fossil fuels, which defeats the entire pourpose in the first place. However nuclear produced hydrogen as a long term solution is a good idea as. Since the time from NRC application to a new nuclear plant going online is about 8-10 years it does not hurt to start thinking about it.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Wow...

First off, "PM" is what discovered the problem. It's part of a $50 million PM program that BP implimented to examine every inch of pipe they have on the slope after the spill last winter.

I beg to differ - 'PM' or "Preventive Maintenance" is intervention and prevention through maintenance schedules that
accertain that certain types of potential failures do not accur, and any posibilities of a failure are fixed before they happen.

An 'Inspection' that finds an active leak and pins it down therough failure analysis is incompetance on the part
of the party that oversees and performs the day to day operation, and the compliciancy of the managemewnt of that party.

They know that these failures occur on a predictable basis, and there are times of the year - seasonally, that ceratin
modes of failure are most likely to occur, and proper interverntion prevents the shutting down in a system.
Whenever a critical system has to be taken off-line to perform repair operation outside the scope of 'PM',
that is more than just a random anomally in the interactive running of a complex system.

This is the 30th year since it became operational way back in 1977. They should have established a very good schedule by now.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I draw the line at record profits based on incompentcy.

You don't think BP is upset at the lost profits?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Wow...

First off, "PM" is what discovered the problem. It's part of a $50 million PM program that BP implimented to examine every inch of pipe they have on the slope after the spill last winter.

I beg to differ - 'PM' or "Preventive Maintenance" is intervention and prevention through maintenance schedules that
accertain that certain types of potential failures do not accur, and any posibilities of a failure are fixed before they happen.

An 'Inspection' that finds an active leak and pins it down therough failure analysis is incompetance on the part
of the party that oversees and performs the day to day operation, and the compliciancy of the managemewnt of that party.

They know that these failures occur on a predictable basis, and there are times of the year - seasonally, that ceratin
modes of failure are most likely to occur, and proper interverntion prevents the shutting down in a system.
Whenever a critical system has to be taken off-line to perform repair operation outside the scope of 'PM',
that is more than just a random anomally in the interactive running of a complex system.

This is the 30th year since it became operational way back in 1977. They should have established a very good schedule by now.

The time of year doesn't matter to a pipe that has oil in it 24/7.
And how do you replace a section of pipe without stopping the flow?

You could argue that they should be running annual inspections on all the pipes up there (and they probably will now) but that wouldn't change the fact that if a section of this specific pipe needed to be changed out we'd be looking at the same situation we are now. As I said before, their maintenance program worked. Right now they are cleaning up 4 barrels of oil instead of 400,000.

GG on ignoring the rest of my response.

 

[smashp]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: astrosfan90
Out of curiosity, are oil companies under some sort of obligation to produce oil and sell it?

Is there some law requiring them to produce and refine a certain amount every day/month/year?

If not, how is this any different from any other company out there stating that due to problems they're having, they're going to be temporarily cutting production?

There's the problem. They can do whatever they want.

Perhaps we should order Intel to sell their chips at a certain price/profit function, or force Pulte to sell homes in the same way. Perhaps we should mandage corn and milk producers.

Seriously Dave, sometimes I don't know where you draw the line between authoritarianism and democracy.

Every single aspect of our economy doesnt collapse completly based on pre-fabbed pos pulte houses or Intel chips.

 

[teiresias]

Information from "Marketplace" about how BP neglect of the pipeline has caused this trouble.

Marketplace BP Story

One researcher says you can blame the PIGs for all this trouble. In this case, that's short for the pipeline inspection gauges that are supposed to be used to check for problems inside the pipes.

Richard Fineberg, the former state oil analyst for Alaska, says BP has put off running those pigs at least two years beyond schedule, despite serious signs of trouble.

RICHARD FINEBERG: "Knowing from visual observation they had corrosion that warranted close inspection, they still didn't run the PIG, and had the largest spill in the history of Prudhoe Bay operations, roughly 200,000 gallons that leaked for five days before they found they even had the spill."

That was five months ago. Now, Fineberg says, BP claims surprise.

FINEBERG: "When this glaring discrepancy blows up in their face, they then say, 'Oh, we're going to get right on it and take every action to correct it.'"

A BP spokesman did not return our call by airtime. At a news conference today, BP said it now needs to replace close to 75 percent of all its Prudhoe Bay pipelines.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

This is certainly a different story than we had yesterday...

Link

BP said Monday it discovered corrosion so severe that it will have to replace 16 miles of pipeline at the huge Prudhoe Bay oil field - work that could shut down the nation?s single biggest source of domestic crude for months and drive gasoline prices even higher.


Oil prices climbed more than $2 a barrel on the news, and gasoline futures rose, too. The West Coast is expected to be squeezed particularly hard, and the government is considering releasing oil from its emergency stockpile to ease the crunch.

BP PLC said it will have to replace most of the 22 miles of so-called transit pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, which produces about 2.6 percent of the nation?s daily supply, or about 400,000 barrels a day.

BP, the world?s second-largest oil company, discovered the extent of the corrosion with tests that were ordered by the federal government after a big oil spill last March at Prudhoe Bay, situated above the Arctic Circle, 650 miles north of Anchorage.

The oil company said it was surprised to find such severe corrosion, and had gone 14 years without using a device called a ?pig? to clean out its lines because it did not believe it was necessary.

Now we can start with the incompetent chorus. 14 years is ridiculous. Good lord... They run a pig through the Alyeska line all the time. (Actually they use several kinds of pigs for different levels of maintenance and inspection). To think you can go for over a decade without running a pig through the same kind of line is mind blowing.

I was giving them a pass at discovering the corrosion under the context of them conducting some sort of maintenance or inspection on any kind of a schedule that they felt was needed. This is obviously a case of NO inspections or maintanence at all.

Pass revoked.

According to this Link pig testing every two weeks is standard. Wow...

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: smashp

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: astrosfan90
Out of curiosity, are oil companies under some sort of obligation to produce oil and sell it?

Is there some law requiring them to produce and refine a certain amount every day/month/year?

If not, how is this any different from any other company out there stating that due to problems they're having, they're going to be temporarily cutting production?

There's the problem. They can do whatever they want.

Perhaps we should order Intel to sell their chips at a certain price/profit function, or force Pulte to sell homes in the same way. Perhaps we should mandage corn and milk producers.

Seriously Dave, sometimes I don't know where you draw the line between authoritarianism and democracy.

Every single aspect of our economy doesnt collapse completly based on pre-fabbed pos pulte houses or Intel chips.

That's because we accept alternatives. If these fat morons driving SUV's would do the same, we wouldn't be too worried.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy


The time of year doesn't matter to a pipe that has oil in it 24/7.
And how do you replace a section of pipe without stopping the flow?

You could argue that they should be running annual inspections on all the pipes up there (and they probably will now) but that wouldn't change the fact that if a section of this specific pipe needed to be changed out we'd be looking at the same situation we are now. As I said before, their maintenance program worked. Right now they are cleaning up 4 barrels of oil instead of 400,000.

GG on ignoring the rest of my response.

BP has a history of incompetant managment of their 'alledged' form of governance to their branch of the industry.

Refresher course for those who care

Explosion at BP Facility in Texas kills every man, womam and Child on the Planet!

Steplerot caught hell for pointing out that this specific facillity had a history of inept managment and spent more time fighting it than fixing it.
He was right, you know - huge fine for multiple OHSA infractions & review for criminal negligince by the DOJ.

Biggest Spill in Alaska Pipeline History - lack of comprehensive mainainence by BP

BP lost a section of their 'pie' back in March when improper and inadequate surveilance of the pipeline resulted in a failure of a section - corrosion.

BP's reaction and answer, "We'll do better".

<INSIDE THE ARTICLE>

Three-month deadline
The pipeline safety agency, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said BP must review the leak detection system on the affected line
as well as two other crude transit pipelines in Prudhoe, 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

The company must make necessary modifications within three months.

Six anomalies found after spill
The order also calls for repairs of six anomalies found in the line after the spill was discovered.
The worst flaw was a spot where the wall thickness had worn down to 0.04 of an inch.

Among other measures, BP must run maintenance pigs ? electronic equipment put through a pipe to check wall conditions ? on the three lines.
Since the spill, critics have slammed BP for last running a pig through the ruptured line in 1998.

Oh, isn't that cute?

March of this year - here it is August, 5 months later . . and the 3 months they were given expired 2 months ago . . with no BP action.

And now, Ribbed, for BP's Pleasure

Sure thing, it's that nasty 'Sludge' who's to blame for another breakdown in the Preventive Maintainence Schedule,
which obviously has nothing to do, whatsoever, with the fact that BP Managment ignored their responsibility
and failed to perform those mandated Federal requirements that would have avoided this.

Bleed on.

Just how big is this Pipeline ?
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.bechtel.com/sptrans-alaska.htm">Bechtl, the Lead Engineering Contractor - tasked with the entire work integration project,
was able to complete the entire 800 miles on schedule in July 1977</a>

Pretty good job by Bechtl - 800 miles through the frozen tundra, over hill and dale to grandmother's house.

And what's BP got ? . . . 22 total miles that they maintain, less than 3 % of the pipeline run.

What's with that?
The 'other' companies who share sector responsibility with BP and maintian their portion of the remaining 97%+
can do it properly, and BP can't take care of their little Petroleum Goldmine?

Sounds to me like someone at BP's got some 'Splainin' to do . . and fast.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I draw the line at record profits based on incompentcy.

You don't think BP is upset at the lost profits?

What lost profits???

Prices at the pump are going to go through the roof resulting in even more record profits for them with 8% less product on the front end.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: astrosfan90
Out of curiosity, are oil companies under some sort of obligation to produce oil and sell it?

Is there some law requiring them to produce and refine a certain amount every day/month/year?

If not, how is this any different from any other company out there stating that due to problems they're having, they're going to be temporarily cutting production?

There's the problem. They can do whatever they want.

Perhaps we should order Intel to sell their chips at a certain price/profit function, or force Pulte to sell homes in the same way. Perhaps we should mandage corn and milk producers.

Seriously Dave, sometimes I don't know where you draw the line between authoritarianism and democracy.

I draw the line at record profits based on incompentcy.

Because you so obviously have had a perfect career and are the CEO of a networking company?

Mistakes happen, you are far from perfect.

Did I ever say I was perfect?

Many people have in their sig where I said I'm an Asshole and a Moron.

Apparently I'm not enough of an asshole and moron because the ones that run Companies like BP get to rake in billions of record profits.

Apparently I'm not a big enough asshole and moron yet because the one in the Whitehouse got to stay there for another 4 years.

But don't worry, I'm working on it.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
...

Check up a couple of posts and you can see where I reversed field. Obviously they are not keeping the standards that others on the slope are. Pig maintenance and inspection is supposed to be conducted every two weeks or so.

The last time BP ran a full pig inspection was in 1992. 14 years ago. Totally unacceptable. Other camps up there are running routine pig tests every two weeks. The main pipeline that runs from Prudhoe to Valdez get "pigged" every two weeks as well.

BP is obviously negligent in the maintaining of their feeder lines as well as their main artery to the pipeline. The process to hold them criminially responsible for the spill last winter is under way. This negligence will most likely involve more criminal charges against the company and rightfully so.

Accidents happen and they are a part of the oil business. But this is no accident. This is pure neglect and BP should have the book thrown at them.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Check up a couple of posts and you can see where I reversed field. Obviously they are not keeping the standards that others on the slope are. Pig maintenance and inspection is supposed to be conducted every two weeks or so.

The last time BP ran a full pig inspection was in 1992. 14 years ago. Totally unacceptable. Other camps up there are running routine pig tests every two weeks. The main pipeline that runs from Prudhoe to Valdez get "pigged" every two weeks as well.

BP is obviously negligent in the maintaining of their feeder lines as well as their main artery to the pipeline. The process to hold them criminially responsible for the spill last winter is under way. This negligence will most likely involve more criminal charges against the company and rightfully so.

Accidents happen and they are a part of the oil business. But this is no accident. This is pure neglect and BP should have the book thrown at them.

Noted your re-evaluation of the developing culpability of BP & it's association of unindicted co-conspirators.

If you re-read any of my posts on this thread, each was an attempt to disclose and point out an obvious
management decision to ignore performing of maintainence and upkeep on a critical section of pipeline
where they had a shared responisbility with at least 2 other cororations.
Those companies did their job and it was at an added cost to those companies.
BP's oversight was detramental to the industry as a whole, and the only reason would be for BP to make more profit,
as simply not doing those PM tasks that were required would result in more run time for them to transport product
as wel as side stepping the cost of performing the workmanship and labor costs associated with it . . . for 14 damn years.

So now here we are, with a severly compromised POL conduit which will have to be partially and sequentially shut down
to replace sections of pipeline that have deteriorated under BP's oversight, and drive everyones price up . .
but potentially to award even higher proffit to the bad actor who facilitated this mess.

BP has no loyalty to Alaska and it's citizens, nor to the United States as a whole.
Their loyalty lies with maximizing profit at the expense of the United States and their customers
for the financial gain of a close minded group of protected British Businessmen who are only loyal to themselves.

Question of the moment: Do we continue to reward these cheating bastards by letting them keep control
of the assets that they have proved over and over again that they continue to mis-manage,
or do we punish them by not only fining them, but stripping them of their undeserved assets and
reassign those assets to a different Petrochemical Consortium who has a better track record?

Personally - I have not bought a drop of product from any Exxon dealer since the Spill way back when,
& I am adding ALL BP products to my Personal Boycot list.

There are other companies around that I can choose to deal with, don't need their BP-BS.

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I draw the line at record profits based on incompentcy.

You don't think BP is upset at the lost profits?

What lost profits???

Prices at the pump are going to go through the roof resulting in even more record profits for them with 8% less product on the front end.

Ever occur to you that they're doing it right now because it's one of the few months of the year when the entire state of Alaska isn't a giant block of ice?

Perhaps they should continue to let it leak. But then they'd be killing the environment.

Short of giving you free gas, is there anything oil companies can do right, according to you?

 

[GroundedSailor]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Check up a couple of posts and you can see where I reversed field. Obviously they are not keeping the standards that others on the slope are. Pig maintenance and inspection is supposed to be conducted every two weeks or so.

The last time BP ran a full pig inspection was in 1992. 14 years ago. Totally unacceptable. Other camps up there are running routine pig tests every two weeks. The main pipeline that runs from Prudhoe to Valdez get "pigged" every two weeks as well.

BP is obviously negligent in the maintaining of their feeder lines as well as their main artery to the pipeline. The process to hold them criminially responsible for the spill last winter is under way. This negligence will most likely involve more criminal charges against the company and rightfully so.

Accidents happen and they are a part of the oil business. But this is no accident. This is pure neglect and BP should have the book thrown at them.

Noted your re-evaluation of the developing culpability of BP & it's association of unindicted co-conspirators.

If you re-read any of my posts on this thread, each was an attempt to disclose and point out an obvious
management decision to ignore performing of maintainence and upkeep on a critical section of pipeline
where they had a shared responisbility with at least 2 other cororations.
Those companies did their job and it was at an added cost to those companies.
BP's oversight was detramental to the industry as a whole, and the only reason would be for BP to make more profit,
as simply not doing those PM tasks that were required would result in more run time for them to transport product
as wel as side stepping the cost of performing the workmanship and labor costs associated with it . . . for 14 damn years.

So now here we are, with a severly compromised POL conduit which will have to be partially and sequentially shut down
to replace sections of pipeline that have deteriorated under BP's oversight, and drive everyones price up . .
but potentially to award even higher proffit to the bad actor who facilitated this mess.

BP has no loyalty to Alaska and it's citizens, nor to the United States as a whole.
Their loyalty lies with maximizing profit at the expense of the United States and their customers
for the financial gain of a close minded group of protected British Businessmen who are only loyal to themselves.

Question of the moment: Do we continue to reward these cheating bastards by letting them keep control
of the assets that they have proved over and over again that they continue to mis-manage,
or do we punish them by not only fining them, but stripping them of their undeserved assets and
reassign those assets to a different Petrochemical Consortium who has a better track record?

Personally - I have not bought a drop of product from any Exxon dealer since the Spill way back when,
& I am adding ALL BP products to my Personal Boycot list.

There are other companies around that I can choose to deal with, don't need their BP-BS.

While I agree with your assessment of gross negligence by BP management, to boycott Exxon is maybe a step too far. The Valdez oil spill was arguably an accident but also a result of negligence by 1 employee (the capt of the ship) and in part by the harbor authorities.

The master of the ship should have been on the bridge and sober when maneuvering out of the harbor and not left the charge to the junior most navigating officer on board. There's good reason to have two navigators keeping an eye on the ships progress in any narrow or confined waters. In the Valdez case the master deserves all the blame for negligence.

The harbor authorities should not have made pilotage optional specially for large ships. Having a pilot onboard ensures you have someone who is familiar with the local waters and knows the dangers and is probably quicker to recognize when something is going wrong as he is familiar with the area. I have been in command of oil tankers and the company I worked for had a policy - if a pilot was available we had to employ one - even in the port where I had a pilotage exemption.

You have to give Exxon credit for spending billions for what was employee negligence and not negligence by management as in BP's case.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: astrosfan90


Ever occur to you that they're doing it right now because it's one of the few months of the year when the entire state of Alaska isn't a giant block of ice?

Perhaps they should continue to let it leak. But then they'd be killing the environment.

Short of giving you free gas, is there anything oil companies can do right, according to you?

Absolute pathetic apology for BP.

The 'other' operaters of the pipeline in the region have been able to comply, year round, and schedule permitting.

Deliberatly letting their sector go without maintanence for 14 years isn't a seasonal constraint,
it's a manifeatation of deliberate and incompetant managment making a decision based of profitability, damn the consequences.
The gambled that they would be caught, and were caught back in March when previous faiklure to comply
lead to the largers ever leak in the BP operated sector of the pipeline, and they were given until June
to finish and complete repairs, evaluate the balance of their equipment and get that section fixed as necessary as well.
They failed to even do that.

Now, go back and find another 'excuse' to absolve BP of their Corporate responsibility.

 

[Genx87]

They should slap them with a fine or something for negligence. Not running a PIG for 14 years is unbelievably negligent.

Maybe revoke their license to pump oil and give it to their competitors to teach them a lesson?

I dont know all the legalities of the situation but that is beyond unbelievable.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Question of the moment: Do we continue to reward these cheating bastards by letting them keep control
of the assets that they have proved over and over again that they continue to mis-manage,
or do we punish them by not only fining them, but stripping them of their undeserved assets and
reassign those assets to a different Petrochemical Consortium who has a better track record?

That's a very good question. And unfortunately it's not an easy one. Right now BP is facing criminal charges for their spill last winter. That spill was a direct result of the wide spread negligence that came to light this week. No doubt there will be more charges filed against them.

Everyone who drills in Alaska has a lease to do so. I should ask around and see if those lease rights can be revoked and resold to other companies. I would also be interested in knowing if the criminal court system has the authority to revoke those rights on it's own, independent of the legislature.

My guess would be that the courts could fine BP but would not have the authority to revoke the lease. The lease is authorized by the legislature so there may be a separation of powers issue there and any revocation of drilling/servicing rights would have to be revoked by them.

To BP's credit... If you can give them any... They are not dancing around the issue. They are admitting that their corrosion testing methods were inadequate calling the program "seriously flawed."

Link

Massive repairs:
BP admits corrosion control was inadequate, prepares to replace North Slope transit lines

By WESLEY LOY and RICHARD RICHTMYER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 8, 2006
Last Modified: August 8, 2006 at 02:09 AM

BP announced Monday it will replace miles of key pipelines across the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field, and executives admitted the company's program to find and prevent corrosion-caused leaks is seriously flawed.

.............

"BP deeply regrets that it's been necessary for us to take this dramatic action," said Bob Malone, president of BP America, a subsidiary of the British oil giant.

BP, which runs Prudhoe on behalf of itself and other owners including Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips, has a multimillion-dollar program to find and prevent leaks.

"Clearly, in hindsight, that program was not sufficient," said Steve Marshall, BP's Alaska president.

Executives said Monday that the company would replace 16 miles of large pipeline segments that cut across the heart of the Prudhoe Bay field. Known as transit lines, these major trunk lines within the field funnel oil into the trans-Alaska pipeline, which carries all North Slope oil 800 miles south to the tanker dock at Valdez. No part of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline itself is to be replaced, only the field's major feeder lines.

Replacing these pipelines will be a big and expensive job, although BP executives said price is no object at this point.

And then there's this asshat...

Bill Hedges, BP's North Slope corrosion manager, said Monday that he has a budget this year of $73 million to fight corrosion, an ever present threat in the oil field.

He said the transit lines weren't considered high risks for corrosion-related leaks because they carry only oil that's had corrosive water removed, leaving the oil ready for shipment to market. The water is removed in processing plants that are scattered across the oil field and are linked by the transit lines.

BP uses ultrasonic testing to find weak spots in the pipelines. BP managers thought this testing was good enough to find leaks, but Hedges conceded Monday that those tests, performed at random points along the pipelines, were inadequate.

"My suggestion now is we just didn't do it in the right spots," he said.

:disgust:


Sacrier still is that BP is also invloved with the Kuparuk field. The Kuparuk and Alpine fields make up the other 400,000 barrels a day that flow through the TAP. So as bad as this is, it could still get much much worse.

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: astrosfan90


Ever occur to you that they're doing it right now because it's one of the few months of the year when the entire state of Alaska isn't a giant block of ice?

Perhaps they should continue to let it leak. But then they'd be killing the environment.

Short of giving you free gas, is there anything oil companies can do right, according to you?

Absolute pathetic apology for BP.

The 'other' operaters of the pipeline in the region have been able to comply, year round, and schedule permitting.

Deliberatly letting their sector go without maintanence for 14 years isn't a seasonal constraint,
it's a manifeatation of deliberate and incompetant managment making a decision based of profitability, damn the consequences.
The gambled that they would be caught, and were caught back in March when previous faiklure to comply
lead to the largers ever leak in the BP operated sector of the pipeline, and they were given until June
to finish and complete repairs, evaluate the balance of their equipment and get that section fixed as necessary as well.
They failed to even do that.

Now, go back and find another 'excuse' to absolve BP of their Corporate responsibility.

Okay, you're right, close their doors, shutter em up and shut down BP's operations.

Oh, wait.

That'd drive prices up, don't do that! Oh noes, my SUV won't be as cheap to fill up and get 2 mpg!1!!!

What do you propose to do? Say you're put in charge right now and can do whatever you want? What's your plan?

Short of creating a time machine to go back in time and catch up on the maintenance, there's not much you can do to retroactively fix the problem besides shutting the line down and fixing it, which BP is doing.

Sincerely,
Shameless BP apologist
(I suppose I am a bit less critical since I was smart enough to invest in shares of the publicly traded company, BP, as well as one of it's competitors; something, incidentally, any of you are free to do as well)

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: astrosfan90


Ever occur to you that they're doing it right now because it's one of the few months of the year when the entire state of Alaska isn't a giant block of ice?

Perhaps they should continue to let it leak. But then they'd be killing the environment.

Short of giving you free gas, is there anything oil companies can do right, according to you?

Absolute pathetic apology for BP.

The 'other' operaters of the pipeline in the region have been able to comply, year round, and schedule permitting.

Deliberatly letting their sector go without maintanence for 14 years isn't a seasonal constraint,
it's a manifeatation of deliberate and incompetant managment making a decision based of profitability, damn the consequences.
The gambled that they would be caught, and were caught back in March when previous faiklure to comply
lead to the largers ever leak in the BP operated sector of the pipeline, and they were given until June
to finish and complete repairs, evaluate the balance of their equipment and get that section fixed as necessary as well.
They failed to even do that.

Now, go back and find another 'excuse' to absolve BP of their Corporate responsibility.

Okay, you're right, close their doors, shutter em up and shut down BP's operations.

Oh, wait.

That'd drive prices up, don't do that! Oh noes, my SUV won't be as cheap to fill up and get 2 mpg!1!!!

What do you propose to do? Say you're put in charge right now and can do whatever you want? What's your plan?

Short of creating a time machine to go back in time and catch up on the maintenance, there's not much you can do to retroactively fix the problem besides shutting the line down and fixing it, which BP is doing.

Sincerely,
Shameless BP apologist
(I suppose I am a bit less critical since I was smart enough to invest in shares of the publicly traded company, BP, as well as one of it's competitors; something, incidentally, any of you are free to do as well)

This is coming from possibly the biggest pro oil person on this forum... Me.

BP fvcked up. The only reason that the test happened and we found all this out was because a court ordered BP to pig their pipes after the spill this last winter.

Yes. They have to shut down the line to fix the problem. The point is that if they had maintained the same corrosion detection and maintenance standards as everyone else on the slope this would not have happened.

So yes... right now I'm all for shutting BP down and transferring their rights to another, more responsible corporation. That shouldn't hurt the global market as one company would simply absorb the territory of another. It happens all the time up there with no disruption in service.

As a person who runs a small business, seeing bad management in action irks me to no end. As a shareholder of BP, a corp who is right now losing $40 million a day at their most profitable facility due to bad management, not to mention the very real possibility of losing that revenue stream permenently, I'd be very upset about this if I were you.