Second spill reported on North Slope as crews continue to clean up unrelated spill

Second spill reported North Slope

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Crews continued Friday to clean up a spill at an oil field on Alaska’s North Slope while state environmental regulators were monitoring a second spill in the region.

About 7,100 gallons of water with oily residue spilled from a six-inch pipeline that injects the production material back into the ground.

The spill at the Prudhoe Bay oil field was discovered Wednesday and field operator, oil giant BP, is investigating the cause.

The spill site is about eight miles west of an 18-inch pipeline that leaked a mixture of oil, gas and water at the nearby Lisburne field.

Crews continue to clean up the earlier spill, discovered Sunday. The cause is under investigation by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Officials do not yet have an estimate of how much material leaked.