These days, no one's going to make the mistake of believing the letters BP also stand for best practices.

Earlier this month, British Petroleum discovered corrosion in the pipeline system leading out of the United States' largest oil field, and announced a halt in production until repairs could be made. With the sudden loss of 400,000 barrels of oil per day, a full 8% of the United States' production, there was considerable public outrage. Yet the shock subsided after production was partially restored to western half of the pipeline system. BP officials are optimistic normal flow will be restored soon and say the corrosion is isolated.

BP became administrator of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in 1992, and shares ownership primarily with Exxon-Mobil and Conoco-Phillips. The company only discovered the current corrosion problems after a significant oil spill in March and subsequent tests revealed that at least 16 miles of pipeline needed to be replaced.

As to why this was not detected earlier, BP has offered no definitive answers.

In a recent interview with ENR.com, Alfred Crouch, an expert in pipeline monitoring technologies, describes several methods by which pipelines can be surveyed for early signs of corrosion and damage.

BP officials later admitted, after some cajoling by reporters, that sections of the pipeline had not been inspected or properly cleaned in more than a decade, in some cases dating back to the beginning of their tenure as administrator. Some BP employees have even come forward and acknowledged that cost-cutting decisions made in the last decade often translated to cutbacks in maintenance for the pipeline systems.

It's hard to nail down exactly when chronic laziness and short-sighted cost-cutting becomes criminal negligence. While BP was running the pipeline systems with maintenance schedules more relaxed than what the pipeline suppliers and builders recommend, company officials claim that this is not unusual in the oil industry. Congressional hearings on the Prudhoe Bay shutdown are set to begin soon, and a separate investigation has been launched by Alaska's attorney general. In New York, some of BP's American investors filed a civil lawsuit against the company chiefs.

Access to oil is a touchy subject for the American people, and regardless of whatever weak excuses companies executives mumble after screw-ups, the oil must flow to its destination and not end up on the ground or in the sea. It isn't worth risking spills and production shut-downs just to shave a few dollars, or a few million dollars, off the quarterly financial report.

Especially when the potential cost includes bringing the wrath of the American public upon themselves.