Trans-Alaska oil pipeline stays closed after Saturday leak

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The trans-Alaska pipeline remained shut down Sunday more than 24 hours after a leak was discovered at a North Slope pump station.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. said the leak, which was discovered Saturday at 8:15 a.m., is coming from a section of below-ground piping encased in concrete next to Pump Station 1 -- the first pump station on the 800-mile pipeline.

The pump station at Prudhoe Bay takes in all the crude from North Slope oil fields before it is delivered to the main line and goes down the trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez, where it is loaded onto tankers for delivery to the West Coast.

The pipeline, which normally carries between 630,000 and 650,000 barrels, was shut down at 8:50 a.m. Alyeska Pipeline runs the pipeline for five companies that own it.