BP optimistic on Prudhoe Bay

US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has got his first look at BP’s pipeline corrosion at Prudhoe Bay as one of the company’s senior executives said a way might be found to return to full oil production before having to replace 16 miles (26 kilometers) of pipes.

David Peattie, a vice president at London-based BP, said the company hopes to begin constructing the new pipeline system early next year and complete it in several months. But he said full production, to 400,000 barrels a day, might resume earlier than that.