Sorry, had to post this. it's slightly off topic, but it still talks about the oil pipes that were shut down in Alaska - possible cause? SLUDGE!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14233534/from/RS.2/
Last time the pipes were cleaned out was 1992. I forsee a LARGE Auto-RX order coming up!
Below is a copy and paste of the article with credits to the Associated Press.
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WASHINGTON - The North Slope oil pipelines being shut down because of corrosion were clogged for years by sludge buildup that may have prevented the most sophisticated internal corrosion tests, officials said Monday.
The last time the pipelines were cleaned and tested, using a "smart pig" — a device pushed through the pipe to detect structural problems — was in 1992, according to federal regulators and congressional investigators.
Investigators have been told that the Alaska pipeline, which sends oil from the feeder lines to the port of Valdez, conducts operations to clean line sludge every two weeks.
In Anchorage, BP Alaska President Steve Marshall said the company believed that ultrasound tests were an adequate substitute and that the "smart pig" tests weren't necessary. He acknowledged in hindsight that was not sufficient.
After a major spill on one of BP's three North Slope feeder lines last March, federal officials became concerned about inadequate testing and possibly a wider corrosion problem and ordered the company to conduct a "smart pig" test within three months.
But the company said it could not meet the deadline in part because it was responding to a federal grand jury investigation into the March spill and that "it was working to determine the volume of solids likely to be encountered" in the lines, according to federal officials.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14233534/from/RS.2/
Last time the pipes were cleaned out was 1992. I forsee a LARGE Auto-RX order coming up!
Below is a copy and paste of the article with credits to the Associated Press.
------
WASHINGTON - The North Slope oil pipelines being shut down because of corrosion were clogged for years by sludge buildup that may have prevented the most sophisticated internal corrosion tests, officials said Monday.
The last time the pipelines were cleaned and tested, using a "smart pig" — a device pushed through the pipe to detect structural problems — was in 1992, according to federal regulators and congressional investigators.
Investigators have been told that the Alaska pipeline, which sends oil from the feeder lines to the port of Valdez, conducts operations to clean line sludge every two weeks.
In Anchorage, BP Alaska President Steve Marshall said the company believed that ultrasound tests were an adequate substitute and that the "smart pig" tests weren't necessary. He acknowledged in hindsight that was not sufficient.
After a major spill on one of BP's three North Slope feeder lines last March, federal officials became concerned about inadequate testing and possibly a wider corrosion problem and ordered the company to conduct a "smart pig" test within three months.
But the company said it could not meet the deadline in part because it was responding to a federal grand jury investigation into the March spill and that "it was working to determine the volume of solids likely to be encountered" in the lines, according to federal officials.
