Alyeska to move trans-Alaska pipeline control center out of Valdez

New technologies, such as high-speed Internet and fiber optics, are allowing Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to move its control center for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline out of the port of Valdez.

The pipeline management company will operate the 800-mile pipeline remotely from two new control centers, the main one in Anchorage and a backup in Palmer.

Alyeska spokesman Mike Heatwole said a main goal of the relocation project is to bring the control center closer to company headquarters in Anchorage.

Placing controllers closer to corporate headquarters has become a trend in the nation’s energy industry, Heatwole said.

More than a dozen Alyeska employees will transfer to Anchorage from Valdez or Fairbanks, or will commute to work in the new control center.

The $2 million project should be ready by late this year.

Workers at the 24-hour Anchorage control center will control everything from flow rates and valves along the main pipeline to tanker loading at the port in Valdez.

The high-tech control centers won’t cut costs, but they will make operations more efficient by bringing employees closer together and reducing cumbersome telephone conferences, Heatwole said.

The control center relocation is part of a broader modernization campaign on the pipeline, which transports oil from the North Slope to Valdez.

—The Associated Press