BP Well In Alaska Spews Oil, Gas

Based on aerial pictures, the release appeared to be confined to the gravel pad surrounding the well head and had not reached the surrounding tundra, BP said.

A leak of natural gas from an Alaska North Slope oil well was plugged by pumping salt water down the well.

According to the Environment Protection Agency who made a statement on the current gas leakage on this remote locate in Deadhorse, Alaska, which says the petroleum giant BP who is conducting the drilling on this oil well found a crack on the wellhead. By Sunday, the crude was no longer spraying, and workers were able to activate a safety valve that reduced the pressure of the gas. It wasn't until Monday, however, that BP announced that the well had been killed and the oil had stopped flowing.

The ADEC also said that two leaks have been identified at the well, one near the top and one further down the well assembly.

Oil droplets were confirmed on about 1.5 acres of the drill pad, responders said.

Alyeska Pipeline Service's Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which runs from Prudhoe Bay south to Valdez, is not affected by this incident and is operating normally, Michelle Egan, a company spokeswoman, said.

The leakage from an oil well in the direction of the cold arid tundra plains in the north, but the volume of leaks so far is still unknown, the United States news network ABC News reported.

BP Exploration Alaska is a subsidiary of BP. Employees on Friday morning discovered uncontrolled natural gas flowing from the top of a well house, a metal structure that looks like a large box over a well. In 2006, a BP well in Prudhoe Bay spilled about 267,000 gallons of oil, the largest in the region's history.

The well is too risky at this time for a response team made up of state and federal energy officials and BP employees to get near the well.