BP mopping up minor oil spill in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska claim Reuters

23rd May 2012

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/uk-bp-spill-idUKBRE84M04J20120523

Reuters reports BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. workers are preparing to vacuum up about 4,200 US gallons (100 barrels) of crude oil and a smaller amount of produced water after an overflow of a tank at a Prudhoe Bay oilfield facility, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday.

The spill occurred Monday afternoon on the east side of the giant oil field, the department said in a statement. The affected tank is at a flow station, a facility that separates oil from natural gas and water. Production at Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field, was unaffected by the incident, said Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for BP in Alaska.

However, away from the kneejerk reporting, Lubetech understands all of the overflow oil and produced water was actually caught in secondary containment surrounding the tank. State officials confirm and Rinehart said. "It's got an impermeable liner, there were no injuries or environmental damage," Rinehart said.

The cause of the overflow was a failure of instrumentation & valves intended control tank volume, the Department of Environmental Conservation stated.

Lubetech says: When is a spill not a spill..? When systems and methodologies are in place to contain an incident before it occurs should this qualify as `news`?