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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Interesting morning Visionaries,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>A little news form <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>,
hope summer has gone well!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:3.75pt;
margin-left:3.75pt'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:3.75pt;
margin-left:3.75pt'><b><font size=4 color="#333333" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:15.0pt;color:#333333'>BP shuts down <st1:place w:st="on">Prudhoe
Bay</st1:place> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By WESLEY LOY and RICHARD RICHTMYER<br>
<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Anchorage</st1:place></st1:City> Daily
News <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=dateline><!--start /published/index.comp --><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Published: August 7, 2006
<br>
Last Modified: August 7, 2006 at 02:48 AM <o:p></o:p></span></font><!-- end /published/index.comp --></p>
<!-- Component: ADN : component/redesign/modules/primcol/story/storyhead.comp --><!-- Component: ADN : component/redesign/modules/primcol/story/inset.comp -->
<p class=storyreadable><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><!-- Component: ADN : component/redesign/modules/primcol/story/inset.comp -->BP
began a complete shutdown of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field Sunday after a
leak onto the tundra raised new and troubling questions about dangerous
corrosion of <st1:place w:st="on">North Slope</st1:place> pipelines. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=storyreadable><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The extraordinary shutdown will reduce the flow of all
<st1:place w:st="on">North Slope</st1:place> oil by 400,000 barrels a day --
nearly half the Slope's normal output -- and could rattle oil and gasoline
markets. The shutdown also will crimp state tax and royalty revenue by millions
of dollars a day.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=storyreadable><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Shutting down the field and its roughly 1,000 wells
will take days to complete, and BP executives said the field will stay down
until the company can prove the pipes are safe to operate or until other pipes
can be used or built to bypass bad ones.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=storyreadable><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Follow the rest of the story at: <a
href="http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/story/8052561p-7945629c.html">http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/story/8052561p-7945629c.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Since a majority of the fuel consumed in the Pacific
Northwest is from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>,
I expect you might very well be paying a lot more for gasoline in the near
future. No one knows how long this shut down will last. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>My bet is just after the state primaries; our current
governor, Frank Murkowski, is trying to close a natural gas contract with BP, and
others to build a natural gas pipeline from the slope to the Lower 48. The
proposed contract heavily favors the oil companies and sticks it to <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>, the environment,
and so forth; naturally the state legislature has balked at it and will not approve
it. Part of the deal is a tax structure based on net profits that locks
the tax system in place for 50 years. Ass you might guess the oil
companies are doing everything in their power to re-elect the governor and
force the legislature to sign the contract. This shut down may be in part
a gun to the head of the state legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The counter argument that BP is using today is that they
have been pumping heavy crude for the last 16 months and this crude has greatly
accelerated the corrosion of the pipeline system. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hope Moscow’s gas prices don’t get to out of
hand.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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