BP said Monday it discovered corros...

BP said Monday it discovered corrosion in this way severe that it will have to replace 16 miles of pipeline at the immense Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, oil field -- work that could shut up down the nation's single biggest source of domestic in a raw state for months.

Prudhoe Bay, situated above the Arctic Circle, 650 miles north of Anchorage, abouts about 2.6 percent of the nation's daily endue or about 400,000 barrels a day. BP discovered the compass of the corrosion with standards that were ordered by the federal dominion after a big oil spill last March at Prudhoe Bay.

move with a jerk Malone, chairman of BP America, said that in a worst-case scenario, it could take weeks or month to replace the pipelines.

Analysts were more conservative in their estimates.

"We estimate it could take between sum of two units and three months to procure it back on line," Bruce Lanni, an industry analyst with A.G. Edwards, wrote in a research note.

Societe Generale estimated six month or perhaps a year for production to turn back to normal.

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