Oversight of Pipelines May Increase

U.S. pipeline regulators will propose in coming weeks rules aimed at preventing runaway pipeline corrosion that plagued Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska.

Thomas Barrett, head of the Transportation Department’s Pipeline Safety Administration, said he would soon propose rules to regulate some low-stress lines in rural areas, including London-based BP’s Prudhoe Bay lines.

Current pipeline regulations exempt those lines from oversight.

But the Transportation Department, which oversees the nation’s 200,000-mile network of pipelines, is rethinking that after a BP pipeline in Prudhoe Bay ruptured in March, spilling at least 200,000 gallons of crude on the North Slope. The spill led to a shutdown of half the capacity of the 400,000-barrel-per-day field.

Barrett said the proposal would cover about 1,600 miles of the roughly 5,000 miles of low-pressure pipelines in the U.S. The rules would require regular cleaning and inspections of lines in “unusually sensitive” areas, including places near endangered species or drinking supplies.