Oil spill fouls North Slope

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Emergency crews braved dangerous cold to clean up 100 barrels of oil and water that fouled the Kuparuk oil field on Alaska's North Slope.

The spill was discovered early Sunday by workers who heard a whistling sound coming from a pressurized pipeline, state pollution regulators said.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the pipeline suffered a 6-inch rupture, which was blamed on external corrosion. Natalie Knox Lowman, spokeswoman for Conoco Phillips, which runs Kuparuk, said the leak forced the shutdown of three drill sites that produce 8 percent of the field's average output.