JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- British supermajor BP said it was working with Alaskan environmental officials to address concerns from an oil leak from a pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Alaskan officials discovered a mixture of petroleum products had spilled during the weekend from a pipeline near the Prudhoe Bay field operated by BP.
BP said more than 8,000 square feet of tundra in the region was contaminated by the spill. Alaskan environmental officials said the cause of the spill was unknown.
U.S. environmental regulators raised concerns with BP following a refinery explosion in Texas that killed 15 people in 2005. In 2006 regulators ordered BP to close operations at Prudhoe Bay when they found pervasive corruption on its pipeline.
BP denied any problems at Prudhoe Bay but said it had closed production from the oil field in an effort to control contamination, the Financial Times reports.
"We are working in a Unified Command with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop the leak and begin the clean-up," said BP spokesman Steve Rinehart.
The Times reports U.S. regulators have not yet weighed in on the spill.
