Prudhoe Bay Oil Field

The Prudhoe Bay oil field is an oil field on the coast of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. The commercial oil production in Prudhoe Bay began in the 1960s.

Because of the location on the north coast of Alaska, the development was a particular challenge. The technical development of the whole oil field has already been made ​​in 1968 by the Atlantic Richfield Company, the transportation of the oil was not yet assured. In the summer of 1969, the remodeled to an icebreaker tanker Manhattan drove the first tanker through the Northwest Passage. However, this was not a viable form of transport. Therefore, the oil production was in 1977 taken as the Trans-Alaska pipeline was completed by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. With a share of 26% BP is the operator of the oil field. The output reached 2 million barrels / day in 1988 its peak, since the flow rate falls constant (less than 1 million barrels / day in May 2005).

The estimated exploitable reserves amounted to approximately 3 billion barrels in December 2005. Thus, the production could be continued at the current feed rate of about 10 years. The Prudhoe Bay oil field is the largest oil reserves of the United States, with more than twice the size of the second largest, the East Texas oil field.

History

March 2006: leak in the pipeline

On 2 March 2006 was discovered a large oil leak in the western Prudhoe Bay by an employee of BP Exploration ( Alaska). At least 267,000 gallons (about 1010.7 m³) of oil are spilled and made ​​it the largest oil outflow in northern Alaska in history.

August 2006: Temporary closure of the pipeline

The accident of March 2006 prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation to require BP inspection for corrosion of the tubes with a so-called diagnostic newt. This inspection robot can pass through the inside of the pipes and check the wall thickness of the lines.

Both BP discovered partly serious corrosion damage. Subsequently, the Group announced on August 6, 2006 that a distance of about 25.75 km of pipeline in the bay would have to be replaced. On this route, the wall thickness by up to 80 % from the original 10 mm was lost due to corrosion. BP was surprised to have found such serious corrosion. The company stressed, however, that corrosion regular checks were carried out in coordination with the authorities. The lines were regularly flushed with chemical agents to protect against corrosion and examined by ultrasound. At BP, we had assumed that these methods are suitable and sufficient. How have now turned out, this was not the case.

The company has therefore decided to temporary closure. On August 11, BP announced that production in the western part of the Prudhoe Bay oil field continues. This decision was based on new findings and was made in consultation with the state authorities. After BP had taken the end of September, the production in the eastern part of the oil field again with the approval of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the daily production quantity ( end October 2006) is now back at more than 400,000 barrels. This quantity corresponds to the production on August 6, 2006. Experts estimate the amount of tax revenue for the state of Alaska on approximately 6.4 million U.S. dollars daily.

70.306781944444 - 148.73252388889Koordinaten: 70 ° 18 ' 24 "N, 148 ° 43' 57 " W

  • Oil or gas field in the United States
  • North Slope Borough
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska SS Manhattan (1962) Trans-Alaska Pipeline System Barrel (unit)
663489
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