Alaska Oil Pipe Line Leaks

A brand new oil pipeline leaks during testing.

The elevated pipe, installed the winter before last to replace a corroded oil line near the heart of the vast field, sprang a leak June 16, releasing an estimated 50,000 gallons of water directly into a tundra lake, BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said.
The new pipe has yet to carry any oil, he said.
The leak occurred as workers prepared to test the pipeline, 18 inches in diameter, by sending water through under high pressure, Rinehart said.

Wow.

While that is a whole crapload of water not really much of news yet i mean isnt that the point of testing a pipeline?

Originally Posted by rommaster2

While that is a whole crapload of water not really much of news yet i mean isnt that the point of testing a pipeline?

Could have been oil. The problem I see is a lack of quality control. After the pipefitter & welder have completed the weld, the xray guys do their thing. If the xray passes there will be no leaks. 18" pipe comes in 21' sticks. Each joint on critical welds is supposed to be xrayed & if it passes a test number is stamped into the pipe at that joint. The xray guys had to miss that joint somehow. Humans are doing the work & sometime humans screw up.

Originally Posted by Calspec

Could have been oil. The problem I see is a lack of quality control. After the pipefitter & welder have completed the weld, the xray guys do their thing. If the xray passes there will be no leaks. 18" pipe comes in 21' sticks. Each joint on critical welds is supposed to be xrayed & if it passes a test number is stamped into the pipe at that joint. The xray guys had to miss that joint somehow. Humans are doing the work & sometime humans screw up.

could also have been a mini crack in the middle of the 21ft section that no xray tech would look for as there job is to look at the weld performed not the middle of the pipe.

i suppose it primarily depends upon where the leak occured

my Wow was sarcastic....

The point is that it wasn't oil though, because they test it with water first. If an auto manufacturer was producing a vehicle and in the development and testing phase it had a horrible flaw in the crash tests they would redesign and nobody would hear about it but because this is a more public issue we hear about even this stuff.

When they say the job is finished and something like this happens then its news, but the building and testing process is there for a reason, so this stuff doesn't happen.

Originally Posted by rommaster2

The point is that it wasn't oil though, because they test it with water first. If an auto manufacturer was producing a vehicle and in the development and testing phase it had a horrible flaw in the crash tests they would redesign and nobody would hear about it but because this is a more public issue we hear about even this stuff.

When they say the job is finished and something like this happens then its news, but the building and testing process is there for a reason, so this stuff doesn't happen.

It's great that they caught it during the Final pre-production stage, as you mentioned, that is why they have a "shake down test".

Unfortunately, it sprung a leak! Not a weeping, gasket kind of leak, we are talking about a full on rupture. That is not what is supposed to happen in a final test. A final test is normally a way of reviewing processes and procedures. The physical stuff should have been tested way back in the process. Pipes, in my way of thinking should have been certified before leaving the factory, inspected upon receipt, inspected again before welding in place and again before moving on to the next section. As each step is signed off, it becomes increasingly expensive to repair a flaw.

To me, it is a big deal that a rupture occured at this stage of the game. Its like finding cresent wrench in the oil pan of your motor on first fire-up. Sure you can fix the damage, and you are real glad that it didn't happen in competition .... but, to find it this late in the program means a lot of somebodies were either asleep, blind, failed to properly inspect, didn't know what to look for... or?

Again, lets revert to analogies; Drilling in Alaska is a high profile, very sensitive subject with a lot of people. Even regular folk, the non-Seirra club, non-Green Peace average joe; we all realize that making a mistake up there is not the same as screwing up in some place where you can just call in a crew and get'er done. The fact that the Alaska pipeline is way over-engineered, was in the planning stage for nearly a decade and just the visiblity of the whole thing should alert everyone involved to how seriously any mistakes will be viewed. You pay for a Macco paint job, you can forgive a lot more than you would if it were done by Chip Foose, Starbird or the late Coddington. You just naturally expect more

There sure is a lot of speculation going on here.

I'll play the speculation game!

The pipeline was built with Chinese steel, the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, and that contractor hires illegal immigrant labor from Home Depot parking lots in Anchorage.

Do I win?