BP Reports Oil Spill in Alaska

BP Exploration Alaska told state regulators Friday that oil was spraying from a well onto a pad and possibly onto the snow-covered tundra.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said Friday the spill is ongoing and the volume is unknown, AP reported.

BP employees discovered an uncontrolled natural gas leak that was accompanied by the spray of crude oil.

BP and state regulators are investigating the cause. State officials said a cleanup will begin once the release has been controlled.

BP had a 201,000-gallon oil spill in March 2006 and a smaller spill five months later that ultimately caused it to halve production at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay for several weeks. But its infamous 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill focused the world’s attention on the environmental and economic importance of the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to causing the deaths of 11 workers, the disaster closed vast areas of the Gulf to fishing, killed and injured countless marine mammals, shorebirds, sea turtles and other wildlife, and damaged the Gulf’s delicate web of life in ways that are still unfolding.