Crowley issues Pathfinder spill estimate 01/10/2010
Valdez-based tugboat hit infamous Bligh Reef two days before Christmas; plans made to tow craft to shipyard for repairs
Crowley Maritime Corp. was continuing work to patch up its damaged tugboat Pathfinder for towing from Valdez to a still undetermined shipyard for permanent repairs. Meantime, the company released an e...

Tugboat hits Bligh Reef 01/03/2010
Coast Guard probes collision with infamous rock; Alaska oil tankers delayed
A tugboat used to help manage oil tankers at Valdez ran aground two days before Christmas, spilling diesel fuel into Prince William Sound and mildly disrupting Alaska crude shipments. The mishap has g...

Watchdog wants to zap tanker stowaways 12/27/2009
Prince William Sound group suggests treatment plant at Valdez to rid ballast water of potentially harmful nonindigenous organisms
An oil industry watchdog group is pushing for construction of a special treatment plant to kill invasive species in ballast water carried aboard oil tankers calling on Valdez to load Alaska North Slop...

The Explorers 2009: Alaska Peninsula and North Aleutian basin 11/15/2009
The North Aleutian basin, also known as the Bristol Bay basin, extends more than 200 miles along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula and out into the southern Bering Sea shelf. The southeastern por...

BP plans backup tankers for Valdez use 10/18/2009
North Slope oil producer submits spill plan for charters; would fill in when regular ATC vessels unavailable; watchdogs have concerns
BP has submitted a spill prevention and response plan for backup tankers it might charter on short notice to haul Alaska North Slope crude oil out of the port of Valdez. The submission of the plan, wh...

House bill requires two tugs for tankers 10/11/2009
Provision in Coast Guard bill would extend dual escorts even to ships with double hulls; similar legislation pending in Senate
Federal legislation authorizing Coast Guard appropriations for 2010 has a provision expanding the requirement for dual tug escorts of oil tankers traveling through Alaska's Prince William Sound. The C...

Parnell appoints members to state boards 09/13/2009
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has made appointments to the Prince William Sound Oil Spill Recovery Institute Board and the Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission, the governor's office said in a Sept. 4...

Tanker damage prompts new weather post 08/02/2009
Two nonprofits, Coast Guard erect Kayak Island station to provide better weather coverage in region prone to dangerous 'barrier jets'
An incident involving a loaded oil tanker and ferocious winds in 2007 in the Gulf of Alaska has inspired installation of a new weather station on a remote island some 60 miles southeast of Cordova. Th...

Observing Prince William Sound conditions 07/26/2009
Two-week 'Sound Predictions 2009' exercise tests weather and sea condition data gathering and forecasting for ocean observation
Encircled by jagged mountain ranges, bordered by glacier-carved fiords and battered by storms sweeping in from the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound would seem to offer some unique challenges to th...

Valdez watchdog group seeks new chief 07/19/2009
A Valdez-based oil industry watchdog group is advertising for a new leader. The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council lost its executive director when John Devens resigned in May. D...

Meet the ocean observation scientists 07/19/2009
The Alaska Ocean Observing System is inviting the public to meet the scientists involved in its Prince William Sound "Sound Predictions 2009" program, and to tour its research vessels, in Valdez on Ju...

TAPS transitioning to low flow future 07/19/2009
Strategic reconfiguration of the trans-Alaska pipeline moves ahead, while engineers assess the challenges of declining flow rates
At the end of May, the switchover to new electric pumps at pump station 4 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline marked the latest major step in the upgrade of the pipeline system to accommodate declining r...

Exxon to pay spill penalty interest 07/05/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp. said June 29 it won't appeal nearly $500 million in interest that a court recently ordered it to pay to Alaska fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez o...

Appeals court orders Exxon to pay interest 06/21/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp. was ordered June 15 to pay about $500 million in interest on punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, nearly doubling the payout to Alaska Natives, fishermen, busi...

Last single-hulled tanker leaves Alaska; Exxon's S/R Long Beach faces mandatory retirement 06/21/2009
Has the last single-hulled tanker exited the Alaska oil trade? The S/R Long Beach, which carried North Slope crude oil for Exxon Mobil, is "not currently physically located along the West Coast," Ray...

Jeffress, Rogers join ANGDA board 06/07/2009
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has made two new appointments and one reappointment to the board of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. Newly named are William R. Jeffress and Brian D. Rogers; the...

Murkowski, Begich introduce escort bill 05/24/2009
U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mark Begich, D-Alaska, introduced legislation May 14 that would require all tankers transporting oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound to be escorted by at leas...

RCA clears ways for discontinuing berths 04/26/2009
Opening docket to intervening parties and public hearing; without opposition, construction work on tanker berths could start in May
State regulators have cleared the way for the owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline to discontinue two Valdez Marine Terminal berths for loading crude oil onto tankers. The five companies with owner...

Prince William Sound 20 years later 03/22/2009
In the years since Exxon Valdez oil spill prevention and response capabilities have increased vastly and become more sophisticated
The grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez on March 24, 1989, and the subsequent unleashing of nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound has gone d...

Panel marks 20th EVOS anniversary 03/08/2009
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is marking the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill with a congressional panel on advances in spill response. The March 24, 1989, oil spi...

AK-WA Connection 2008: Carriers join quest for seafood quality 11/30/2008
Alaska fishermen who seek fast but less expensive methods for shipping their fresh catch to Lower 48 markets get new options
Transportation companies in the Alaska-Washington trade are working to come up with faster and more efficient ways for commercial fishermen to move fresh, wild Alaska seafood to Lower 48 markets. And...

40 Years at Prudhoe Bay: Pipeline tops for moving oil to market 11/16/2008
Companies organize unprecedented engineering feat to overcome technical challenges of transporting Prudhoe Bay crude to tidewater
Even while Put River No. 1 was being drilled, the three companies most concerned with Prudhoe Bay at that time - British Petroleum, Atlantic Richfield and Humble (predecessor to ExxonMobil) - initiate...

40 Years at Prudhoe Bay: Lease sales opened doors to prosperity 11/16/2008
Making North Slope acreage available to industry for oil and gas leasing ushers in exciting new era of challenges, opportunities
In 1960, the federal government established the Arctic National Wildlife Range (now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), covering the entire eastern end of the Arctic Slope and Brooks Range from the...

40 Years at Prudhoe Bay: Oil development spans more than 100 years 11/16/2008
Prudhoe Bay field discovery follows decades of exploration and production by geologists, others, on and off the Arctic Slope
Discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in 1968 near the shore of the Beaufort Sea sparked a new era in petroleum exploration and production in North America and changed Alaska forever. But befor...

Conoco files tariffs 11/02/2008
ConocoPhillips asks for higher intrastate rates on TAPS; Tesoro protests
Another debate over pipeline tariffs could be on the horizon. In filings with state regulators in early October, ConocoPhillips proposed increasing the rate shippers pay to move oil along the trans-Al...