Oil leak mists some 33 North Slope acres

BP Exploration (Alaska) had a spill of natural gas, crude oil and produced water from a three-phase flowline at H pad in the western operating area of the Prudhoe Bay field April 28. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Spill Prevention and Response said the incident started at 2:30 p.m. and continued until the line was isolated by valves and depressurized at 4:30 p.m.

The agency said April 30 that BP had isolated the section of pipe which caused the release.

The spill amount was unknown with some 33 acres of snow-covered tundra and two acres of gravel pad sprayed with an oily mist to varying degrees of coverage, DEC said.

BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience said in an email that the leak occurred as a producing well was being returned to service.

DEC said responders with cleanup contractor Alaska Clean Seas worked during the evening of April 28 to establish site control, set up staging and decontamination areas, clear affected snow to accommodate response traffic and delineate the spill area. BP and its contractors had crews removing contaminated snow with shovels and brooms.

No affected wildlife were reported, DEC said, noting that BP and ACS were developing a plan to deter wildlife from the spill area.

—Kristen Nelson