ANOTHER BP oil spill as 4,200 gallons of the black stuff spill onto the Alaskan tundra



Another spill: The pipeline leak is at BP's Lisburne field in Alaska. In 2006 up to 267,000 gallons were spilled in a similar leak at oil giant's Prudhoe Bay field (pictured)

BP has reported yet another pipeline leak at its Alaskan oilfields, just over a year after the Gulf of Mexico disaster.



The oil giant said a pipeline at its 30,000-barrel-per-day Lisburne field, which is currently closed for maintenance, ruptured during testing and spilled a mixture of methanol and oily water onto the tundra.



The London-based company has a long history of oil spills at its Alaskan pipelines - accidents which have hurt its public image in the U.S., where around 40 per cent of its assets are based.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said the spill occurred on Saturday and amounted to 2,100 to 4,200 gallons.



A BP spokesman said the clean-up was under way and the company would determine the cause 'in due course.'



Lisburne, which is managed as part of the Greater Prudhoe Bay Unit, has produced no oil since June 18, according to Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records, suggesting maintenance work requiring a prolonged shutdown.

The spokesman said the field had been undergoing 'its annual maintenance.'



BP's blown out Macondo well caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, spewing almost five million barrels of oil into the Gulf and putting BP's future in the U.S. at risk.







Rise and fall: BP's share price took several plunges throughout the day's trade but was climbing back up at close

Previous problems including leaks from corroded pipelines in Alaska and the fatal Texas City refinery blast in 2005 had already earned the company a poor reputation for safety, something analysts say it needs to address if it is to continue to grow in North America.



BP shares were down 1.089 per cent at 454 pence today.



Production from the entire Lisburne field remains shut off while the spill is addressed, Alaska officials said.

Disaster: The new leak comes little more than a year after the Deepwater Horizon explosion that triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history

Devastating: A brown pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast following the Gulf of Mexico spill last year

Immediate efforts are focused on containment and clean-up, said Tom DeRuyter, state on-scene coordinator for the Department of Environmental Conservation.



The methanol-produced water mix has spread into wet tundra as well as onto a gravel pad, bringing risks to slow-growing vegetation, DeRuyter said.



'You have actively growing plants and they're very susceptible to the contaminants,' he said.



The pipeline will also have to be dug up to allow for an investigation into why it failed, he said.



Resumption of normal operations at that part of the field may require a relatively long wait, DeRuyter said.

