BP shuts down Alaska oil processing hub after fire
By CASSANDRA SWEET
BP said late Thursday it has shut down an oil-processing center at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field, following a fire.
Employees at the gathering center saw a flame and heard a noise Wednesday morning at one of two low-pressure gas handling buildings, said BP spokesman Steve Rinehart.
No one was injured and the fire extinguished itself, he said.
Fire crews found little or no damage inside the building, but facility managers decided to shut down the plant.
The plant was being brought back online Thursday, Rinehart said.
BP hasn't determined the impact on production. The restart is likely to take two to three days, Rinehart said.
The gathering center has a capacity of about 77,000 bpd, said Cathy Foerster, a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The facility is one of about a dozen plants across Alaska's North Slope that process oil to be shipped through the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline to the Port of Valdez.
Dow Jones Newswires
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