Alyeska sends dispersant, expert to Gulf

The Gulf of Mexico rig sinking and oil spill continue to cause ripples through the Alaska industry.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which runs the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline and tanker port at Valdez, sent 70,000 gallons of chemical dispersant to the Gulf, Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan told Petroleum News on May 5.

Before supplying the dispersant, Alyeska checked with Alaska regulators to make sure it was OK under local spill response plans, Egan said.

Dispersant is among an arsenal of tactics being used to attack the Gulf spill, which began after the Transocean semisubmersible rig Deepwater Horizon, drilling an exploration well for BP about 41 miles offshore Louisiana, exploded on April 20 and later sank. Eleven of the rig’s 126 crew members died in the tragedy.

Responders were spraying dispersant on the surface and also injecting it undersea to try to break up the oil.

In addition to the dispersant, Alyeska also sent one of its workers, Tony Parkin, to assist with the Gulf spill response. Parkin is a trajectory modeling expert who can help predict the oil movement, Egan said.

BP is the top owner in Anchorage-based Alyeska and has sent a number of its own Alaska employees to help with the Gulf disaster.

—Wesley Loy