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Alyeska takes the next strategic step For the first time ever Pump Station 9 on the trans-Alaska pipeline runs at night without an on-site control room operator Alan Bailey Petroleum News
In a new milestone for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.’s strategic reconfiguration of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Pump Station 9 south of Delta Junction has started operating without a night shift in the on-site control room.
“In July Pump Station 9 spent its first night alone,” Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan told Petroleum News Aug. 25. Security personnel remain at the pump station during the night, while operations and maintenance staff are available to move in if an operational problem requires on-site attention, she said.
The capability to operate the pump station without on-site staff comes as a result of the remote control and monitoring capabilities of the new trans-Alaska pipeline operations control center in Anchorage — Alyeska has been replacing the pipeline’s 30-year old control and monitoring systems by state-of-the-art digital technology. The improved technology will reduce the numbers of people required at the pump stations and will enable the collection of data for improved maintenance efficiency, thus reducing operation and maintenance costs, Alyeska has said.
Electric pumps Another key component of the strategic configuration project is the conversion of the pump stations to the use of electrically powered pumps, rather than the turbine powered pumps that were installed when the pipeline was constructed. The new pumps use variable frequency drives and can be switched in and out of operation, thus enabling great flexibility in handling different levels of oil throughput in the pipeline. The new pumping system can also be scaled up, if necessary, to ramp up the overall pipeline capacity.
The company converted Pump Station 9 first, with the new electric pumps going on line in February 2007. Then came Pump Station 3 on the northern side of the Brooks Range, with a startup of its electric pumps in December 2007. Alyeska is currently upgrading Pump Station 4, with that work scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2009. After completing work at Pump Station 4, Alyeska will move on to Pump Station 1 at Prudhoe Bay, the last of the four pump stations slated for upgrades.
Alyeska has been using this phased approach, tackling one pump station at a time, so that the lessons learned from each pump station conversion can be applied when converting the next pump station. Both Pump Station 9 and Pump Station 3 experienced some technical problems after changeover, including pipeline vibrations.
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