An accident has closed down the Trans-Alaska pipeline, of which BP is the largest owner:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 25 (Reuters) – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline, partly owned by BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), shut down on Tuesday after spilling several thousand barrels of crude oil into backup containers, drastically cutting supply down the main artery between refineries and Alaska’s oilfields.
The accident comes at a difficult time for BP — the largest single owner of the pipeline operator, holding 47 percent — as it struggles to plug a gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well [ID:nN2597511].
The shutdown followed a series of mishaps that resulted from a scheduled fire-command system test at Pump Station 9, about 100 miles (161 km) south of Fairbanks, said Alyeska Pipeline Service Co, the operator of the 800-mile oil line.
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 approximately 40 people at the work site were evacuated, Alyeska spokeswoman Michele Egan said.
That could hardly have come at a worse time for BP. As Lady Bracknell said when being urged to pity for an orphan “To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
