BP Exploration Alaska reported a spill of methanol and produced fluids at the Lisburne oil field on July 16. About 50-100 bbl of a methanol/produced fluid blend was spilled onto a gravel pad and a freshwater tundra pond, according to the company’s initial estimates. Lisburne field is part of Prudhoe Bay Unit.
The spilled fluid includes some crude oil although the volume of spilled crude was not immediately available, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) said.
“During the Lisburne Production Center annual shut-in, an 8-in. test-header pipeline, with a 100-bbl potential capacity, released in an underground section at a roadway crossing at the L-1 drill site, the ADEC said. “The pipeline is sleeved within a larger pipe structural casing through which the spilled fluids were released at each end. The failure of the pipeline occurred during a leak test intended to check newly install valves.”
Pressure in the pipeline reached 949 psi before the leak, ADEC said. Spill responders put absorbent material and boom on the tundra. Vacuum trucks recovered 15 bbl of spilled liquids.
There was no ongoing production activity when the leak happened.
