acyually their CEO is an old hand at oil.
he did waht was right for the shut down to avaoid further complications after the feds orderd an inspection, then he said they had that leak and he made the decision to stop now and fix it before things got out of hand,
i am sure like most companies they were just one step ahead of the gove. mandating a shut down.
in my business, of environmental "issues" they are always bucking the line on wrong and right, and we are the gov.
i hate to see fuel go up, but wholly cow batman if they had spilled millions on the alaska slopes it would have been very ugly and teh tree huggin nuts would get stronger and we would be importing more oil and refined product.
what we need, if the supply is really not going to be interupted as bad as first thought..... big G needs to step in and price freeze. maybe -popcorn
hope we dont get another big hurricane in the gulf.
from bp
Release date: 08 August 2006
This statement was made today by Bob Malone, Chairman and President of BP America, Inc., at a press conference in Anchorage, Alaska.
"We deeply regret that it has been necessary to take this drastic action of an orderly and planned shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay oil field.
"On behalf of the BP Group, I apologize for the impact it is having on the nation and the State of Alaska.
"We will be working with State and Federal regulators on plans for the orderly and planned shutdown of Prudhoe Bay. I would like to thank the State of Alaska, Department of Transportation and Alyeska for their current and longer term support.
"In addition, we will be conducting a parallel study with the agencies to determine if it is possible to safely continue operating portions of the field.
"BP has committed the human and financial resources to complete all of this work as safely and quickly as possible.
"We have now taken the decision to replace the main oil transit lines at Prudhoe Bay. This will be accomplished as part of our overall plan for ensuring the integrity of the field.
"Our priorities moving forward are to assure the safety and integrity of our operating infrastructure, minimize impact on the environment, continue the cooperative working relationship with the relevant agencies and restore production as soon as it is safely – and I reinforce safely - possible."