ConocoPhillips details gas leak cause, remedies at hearing

ConocoPhillips has detailed reasons and remedies following a natural gas leak last year on the North Slope that caused 300 employees to be evacuated. The company spoke during an Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission hearing into the leak at its Alpine field. It said pumping 170 barrels of diesel fuel into a disposal well to prevent freezing caused a component to fail. The leak went unnoticed for days but was corrected. A company official says no one was harmed by the leak. The company says it has taken measures to ensure a similar situation doesn't happen again. Last week, the federal government approved another ConocoPhillips Alaska project on the North Slope, the Willow oil project.