Oil Prices Rise As BP Shuts Pipeline

CARSON, CA - AUGUST 07: The BP West Coast Products LLC Carson oil refinery on August 7, 2006 in Carson, California. BP Global is shutting down its Prudhoe Bay oil field operations, the nation?s largest, on Alaska's North Slope because of severe corrosion in an oil transit line. The shutdown will cut supplies to West Coast refineries and will drive oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, raising new criticisms of the company's safety record. British Petroleum (BP) is facing a criminal investigation over a major spill at the same oil field last March. The shutdown reduces the production on Alaska's North Slope by half and reportedly cuts daily U.S. crude production by about 8 percent. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)