BP to replace Prudhoe VSMs this summer - May 29, 2011

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industryMay 2011

Vol. 16, No. 22

Week of May 29, 2011

BP to replace Prudhoe VSMs this summer

BP plans to replace 108 vertical support members at the Prudhoe Bay unit this summer.

The VSMs slated for replacement support several pipelines located between Gathering Center 1 and Gathering Center 3, but are currently deemed “structurally insufficient.”

The new VSMs will improve the integrity of the pipelines, BP said. The process involves using a vibratory hammer to drive the 12-inch VSMs at least 34 feet underground.

BP plans to install the new VSMs between June and September.

The existing VSMs will be capped and abandoned.

VSMs allow operators to elevate a pipeline above the ground. While pipelines are simply buried in much of the world, Arctic permafrost makes that task difficult in Alaska.

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline is supported by some 78,000 VSMs.

—Eric Lidji

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