BP is predicting that the oil fields will be closed for months. yes, that had an "s" at the end. Not a few days, not a couple of weeks, not even a months. Months.
BP said Monday it discovered corrosion so severe that it will have to replace 16 miles of pipeline at the huge Prudhoe Bay oil field — work that could shut down the nation's single biggest source of domestic crude for months and drive gasoline prices even higher.
Here's an idea for BP. Run a new line with non-corroded pipe along side of the corroded parts of the line, and then divert the oil into the new line. Voila. The line is fixed. i'm sure it didn't take months to build that portion of the line in the first place, and I bet this could be done in a matter of days, not months.
Secondly, if this portion of the oil field produces only 2.6 percent of the nations daily supply, while this pipeline is down, prices at the pump should not increase more than 2.6%. Any more than that, and I consider that to be price gouging. Market prices be damned.
Firthermore, BP and the consortium that actually owns the oil field should not even increase prices, as this would not have become such a desperate situation had they bothered to check the pipeline on a regular basis.
The oil company said it was surprised to find such severe corrosion, and had gone 14 years without using a device called a "pig" to clean out its lines because it did not believe it was necessary.
With this little piece of information, I say the energy companies need to suck it up, the conumers are suffering enough.
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