Precautions delay BP cleanup of Alaska oil spill

NEW YORK/ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - British oil giant BP <:BP.LO:>on Thursday submitted a plan to clean up the bulk of oil that spilled from one of its Alaska pipelines, an incident that affected about 11,000 square feet of tundra but did not hinder oil production in the region.

An undetermined amount of crude oil, water and natural gas leaked out of a flow line serving BP's Lisburne field adjacent to Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. oilfield complex. BP found the leak on Sunday.

The material spilled from a leak in the 18-inch-diameter pipeline, which delivers oil from drill sites to a processing facility, BP's Randy Selman told reporters on a conference call Thursday. The line is at least 23 years old, but the company conducted a "comprehensive" inspection on it in 2008, he said.

More than 100 workers and regulators have been assigned to the project, officials said. Cleanup workers have hauled away about 80 cubic yards of contaminated snow so far, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

But a 20-foot safety perimeter around the point of the leak remained in effect until BP can carry out further inspections of the pipeline to ensure the crew's safety, officials said.

BP's cleanup plan, which is being reviewed by regulators, includes the X-raying of the line to determine the size of gas pockets and ice barriers that might pose safety hazards, the Department of Environmental Conservation said.

Tom DeRuyter, a Department of Environmental Conservation manager who is the state's on-scene coordinator for the incident, suggested that the cleanup could take a long time, given the winter conditions and safety concerns.

"All I can say at this time is we're going to be here until the job is done," he said on the teleconference.

BP still faces probation due to an Alaska pipeline spill in 2006, the largest ever recorded on the North Slope. A term of three years probation was imposed in late 2007 as part of the sentence for criminal environmental violations related to the 212,252-gallon spill at the Prudhoe Bay field. BP also paid $20 million in fines and restitution.

BP's federal probation officer said on Thursday she could not comment on whether the Lisburne incident might affect the company's legal status.

"I'm monitoring the situation," said Mary Frances Barnes, the Anchorage-based probation officer. She was not at the spill site, but "There are investigative agencies who are looking into the matter," she said.

Meanwhile, the spilled materials are stable and partially frozen, an indication the contamination may pose less risk to the fragile tundra environment.

"It's a static circumstance. That's very fortunate, the (cold) weather is helping us," said Matt Carr of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is monitoring the cleanup.

No timeline was given for when the cleanup would be done. The pipeline is no longer leaking, but it still contains an unknown amount of material including oil, gas and produced water, Selman said. BP said it was evaluating how to ensure the line, which remains pressurized in some spots, does not release more fluids.

The spilled material looks like "a stiff snow cone" that is five-feet thick at its apex, EPA's Carr said.

Under Alaskan law, companies that spill oil are usually fined according to a per-gallon calculation that takes into account how much of the spilled material was cleaned up, the sensitivity of the environment where the spill occurred and other factors.

A civil fine may eventually be assessed, but state officials are now focused on spill cleanup, said Weld Royal, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

BP also faces potential federal civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.

BP said earlier it had shut down the pipeline weeks ago after discovering an ice plug. Officials have launched an investigation into what caused the leak, Selman said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, BP briefly shut in 11,000 barrels a day of oil production due to the incident, but has restored full production rates since oil can flow through an alternative pipeline from Lisburne.

(Editing by David Gregorio and Carol Bishopric)

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