Anchorage Daily News

BP and state officials are investigating a series of mishaps at the Prudhoe Bay oil field this week, including the dramatic rupture of a high-pressure natural gas pipeline.

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A 7-inch-diameter steel pipe supplying gas to an oil well production pad blew Monday, flinging a pipe segment several feet long some distance away on the tundra, according to BP, the oil company that runs Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field.

No one was hurt and there was no spill or fire in that incident, according to BP and state regulators.

However, natural gas in the line was released into the atmosphere.

If the state determines that a significant amount of gas was released, it could fine BP for up to double the value of the gas that was lost, said Dan Seamount of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Separately, about 30 minutes after the pipe blew, a valve on a different well production pad, called the S Pad, leaked natural gas. And on Thursday, BP reported a crude oil spill of about 150 gallons.

The blown pipeline has resulted in oil wells being shut down at two Prudhoe production pads -- the Y and P pads -- curtailing daily oil production by 3,000 to 7,000 barrels a day, said Steve Rinehart, a BP Alaska spokesman. Prudhoe Bay typically produces more than 300,000 barrels a day.

BP shut down production as a precaution, Rinehart said.

The pipeline blew at about 12:30 p.m. Monday, he said. The cause is still a mystery. "The only thing we know is the pipe came apart. We don't know why," he said.

The pipeline was isolated and depressurized after about an hour, and emergency workers "stood down," according to a notification that BP sent to the state's Office of Petroleum Systems Integrity on Monday.

Rinehart said the rupture was highly unusual and surprising. "We are very glad that nobody was hurt and that there was no spill," he said.

He said gas is piped to certain Prudhoe Bay production pads to lift oil and water to the surface.

State oil and gas director Kevin Banks is touring North Slope oil fields and went to look at the pipe breach.

He said the pipe appears to have burst, sending a piece flying and causing one end of the ruptured line to bend back beneath other pipes suspended in a rack.

He said he didn't know what caused the rupture.

BP said it has launched an internal investigation of the accident but for now cannot say whether it was caused by corrosion -- which has led to some major oil leaks at Prudhoe Bay over the past few years.

Corrosion "is one of the things we'll be checking on," Rinehart said.

The oil leak occurred on the Y Pad, the same location where the gas pipeline blew, state regulators said.

BP said the spill happened when workers were "freeze protecting" a well on the pad, and a connection failed. The spill did not contaminate the tundra, the company told regulators.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating the spill.

BP runs Prudhoe Bay on behalf of itself and the other lease holders: Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317. Wesley Loy contributed to this story.

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