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US oil output hit by new problems at Prudhoe Bay
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 08 25 06
British energy giant BP said Thursday that output at its troubled Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska had fallen to about a quarter of its normal level after a new technical problem added to existing difficulties with a leaky pipeline.
A company spokesman told AFP that output had been cut by an extra 90,000 barrels per day at the vast field, bringing production down to about 110,000 bpd.
Prudhoe Bay, the biggest oil field in the United States, was already operating at about half its normal output of 400,000 bpd owing to a pipeline leak revealed earlier this month.
Explaining the cause of the latest cut, BP spokesman Robert Wine said: "There was a problem at a compressor ... in the western half of the field that was still producing.
"That brought production down to about 110,000 barrels a day and it will probably be down for several days while we fix the compressor.
"We were producing about 200,000 barrels per day before that, so it's come down by 90,000."
Prudhoe, which accounts for some eight percent of total US oil production, has been operating far below normal output after news emerged that an ageing pipeline had sprung a leak.
BP -- which operates the field for a consortium that also includes US giants ExxonMobil Corp, Chevron Corp and ConocoPhillips -- began shutting the field earlier this month after discovering "severe corrosion" in the pipelines.
Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday as traders focused on news of a higher-than-expected increase in US stocks of gasoline, which outweighed the report about BP's new problem, analysts said.
In London trading on Thursday, Brent North Sea crude for October delivery eased eight cents to 71.94 dollars per barrel in electronic trade.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October dipped ten cents to 71.66 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the US market.
In early morning trade the share price of BP sank 0.69 percent to 605.81 pence on London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares. The FTSE was up 0.11 percent at 5,866.50 points.
The British energy major is racing to replace 16 miles (26 kilometres) of an 800 mile (1,287 kilometre) pipe system in Alaska that supplies oil to much of the US West Coast.
Concern that US oil production would be slashed had sent the price of London Brent crude oil to a record 78.64 dollars per barrel on August 7.
AFP 24 1114 GMT 08 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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