Alaska Pipeline to Start Up Again

Interim fix will allow oil to flow as bypass line is completed
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 12, 2011 6:33 AM CST
Alaska Pipeline to Start Up Again
BP workers remove insulation from an oil transit pipeline at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field Aug. 18, 2006 as other workers use ultrasound to test for weakness in the pipe due to corrosion.   (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

Oil will begin flowing once more through the trans-Alaska pipeline, which has been shut down since Saturday. Approval was given yesterday for an “interim restart” of the 800-mile line, which will allow some oil to resume flowing through an alternative pipe while workers continue to build a bypass line to circumvent the pump house leak that shut down the line. The bypass pipe will likely not be completed for another five to six days, the AP reports. The three-day shutdown is one of the longest since the line began operating in 1977.
(More trans-Alaska pipeline stories.)

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