BP Olympic Pipeline begins restart process after completing repairs

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - BP BP.L said on Friday it had begun restarting the 400-mile Olympic Pipeline after completing repairs on a leak east of Everett, Washington.

The Olympic Pipeline moves refined petroleum products including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from northern Washington to Oregon and consists of one 16-inch diameter pipeline and one 20-inch pipeline.

"Olympic initiated restart procedures on the 20-inch pipeline early on November 28 following a successful leak test," the company said in an emailed statement.

Earlier this week, its crews restored the 16-inch segment of the pipeline system after finding no indications of a leak.

A refined products discharge on the Olympic Pipeline was first reported on November 11. BP shut the entire pipeline system a week later, halting product deliveries.

Washington declared a fuel emergency last week and Oregon followed suit on Monday in response to the system shutdown, which has disrupted jet fuel supplies to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac).

The outage also forced major carriers including Alaska Airlines ALK.N and Delta Air Lines DAL.N to implement plans to minimize the impact of the pipeline disruption on flights out of Sea-Tac during the busy Thanksgiving travel week by hauling extra fuel via tanker trucks and inbound flights and adding fuel stops to outbound flights.