WP/Bloomberg: BP Was Told of Pipeline Worries in '04

BP Was Told of Pipeline Worries in '04
Workers Said Insufficient Attention Was Paid to Corrosion
By Mathew Carr
Bloomberg News
Thursday, August 10, 2006; Page D01

BP PLC was told by employees and contractors in a February 2004 survey that its Prudhoe Bay pipeline network probably was not being adequately monitored for corrosion, according to a company report.

"If we find pipe that we know is rotten, they have to replace it," an unidentified employee was quoted as saying in the report, posted on BP's Web site. "My concern, however, is that they are not taking a look at every piece of pipe that they need to be."...

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Cost cuts created "anxiety in the workforce, and that impacts safety," a contractor and supplier said in the report. "Contractors, suppliers and the conservation community were concerned about BP's purported drive to support the highest standards, yet push for reduced costs in its operations."

The company "has been cutting corners" since about 1999, said Charles Hamel, a former oil broker who lobbies government regulators on behalf of Alaskan oil workers. BP "shareholders were not well served by" the company's cost-cutting, he said in an interview this week....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080901749.html

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