BP and its partners have been served with a subpoena by the attorney general of Alaska forcing them to hold on to and "preserve" documentation connected with the corrosion of pipelines at Prudhoe Bay.

The move against the operator and co-owners, such as ExxonMobil, came amid newspaper allegations that BP had manipulated inspection data to avoid having to replace some of the pipeline and as oil prices rose 66 cents to $71.80 a barrel.

The manipulation charge was denied yesterday after BP workers were quoted in the Financial Times saying they had told investigators at the US Environmental Protection Agency that the company was negligent in its maintenance. Problems at Prudhoe first came to the attention of investigators after a damaging oil spill. This forced BP to shut down some of its production

- (Guardian service)