Two weeks after an 18-in. three-phase common pipeline ruptured on Alaska’s North Slope, spewing more than 1,000 barrels of crude oil, produced water and natural gas from a 24-in. gash, cleanup workers are “trimming” the tundra by hand and with machinery in subzero temperatures to remove oil and produced water. At ENR press time, they had removed the bulk of the spilled material from the surface of the 8,400-sq-ft affected area, says Steve Rinehart, spokesman for producer BP Exploration Alaska Inc.
Small Bobcat-type bucket loaders removed the snow-oil mixture, and cleanup continued with a warm-water flush and vacuum. Trimming will remove the top several inches of the tundra to pick up material that may have penetrated the ground surface, Rinehart says.