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February 2011

Vol. 16, No. 7 Week of February 13, 2011

Alaska agency looks to renew air permit

CIPL executive says action doesn’t mean status change for Drift River oil storage facility, closed after 2009 volcanic eruptions

Wesley Loy

For Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing to renew an air quality permit for Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co.’s crude oil storage and tanker loading facilities on the west side of Cook Inlet.

The proposed permit, required under the federal Clean Air Act, would regulate potential annual emissions of air pollutants from the Drift River storage terminal and the offshore Christy Lee loading platform.

Spokesmen for CIPL told Petroleum News the permit renewal is routine and does not signal a change in status for the Drift River terminal, where seven oil storage tanks are currently out of service and stand empty.

The terminal was mothballed after a series of eruptions of Redoubt volcano in 2009 sent mud flows known as lahars down the Drift River, raising safety concerns about the nearby tank farm.

Crude oil no longer is stored at the Drift River terminal prior to loading aboard tankers. Instead, the crude is sent directly into ships via the Christy Lee loading platform.

Tankers arrive at the platform about twice a month to take on oil.

No change in status

Rod Ficken, CIPL vice president, said the company applied to renew the air quality permit in 2007, when its existing permit expired. CIPL has been operating under administrative extensions while the DEC considers the permit renewal application, he said.

Ficken described the permit renewal as routine, saying it doesn’t mean active operations are resuming at the Drift River storage terminal.

“There’s no change in status,” he said.

The proposed five-year permit would cover the Drift River terminal and the Christy Lee loading platform as a single unit, Ficken said.

DEC documents say the two facilities “constitute a single aggregated stationary source” of potential emissions.

The agency published a public notice on Jan. 27 saying it was proposing to renew the air quality permit and would accept written comments on the draft permit until Feb. 28.

Chevron owns 50 percent of CIPL and is the operator, with Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. holding the other half.

CIPL operates a 20-inch pipeline that runs 42 miles from Granite Point down along the western side of Cook Inlet to the Drift River terminal. The pipeline was installed in 1966.

The pipeline company is among a large collection of Cook Inlet oil and gas assets Chevron has announced it intends to sell as a package.






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