With summer comes scheduled maintenance on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and at the major North Slope oil fields which feed the line.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. has a 36-hour major maintenance shutdown scheduled June 12-13. Alyeska, which operates the pipeline, will complete various projects during the scheduled shutdown, including work at Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay and routine tests of all mainline valves between Isabel Pass and Thompson Pass.
“TAPS is a key support piece for the Alaska economy,” Alyeska President Tom Barrett said in a June 9 statement. “Planned major maintenance shutdowns help sustain our commitment to operating TAPS safely and reliably while protecting Alaska’s environment.”
A second 36-hour shutdown is scheduled Aug. 21-22, Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan told Petroleum News in an email, with a shorter shutdown possible July 31. Egan said both of the 36-hour shutdowns will begin at 6 a.m. The possible July shutdown would not likely impact daily throughput on the line, she said.
Both BP Exploration (Alaska), which operates Prudhoe Bay, the North Slope’s largest oil field, and ConocoPhillips Alaska, operator of the Kuparuk River and Alpine fields, the Slope’s second and third largest fields, have summer maintenance planned. Summer work at the fields generally coincides with shutdowns of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
BP is just starting turnaround season, spokeswoman Dawn Patience told Petroleum news in an email. “BP has two scheduled turnarounds at Prudhoe Bay facilities this summer,” she said, with work focused on facility maintenance, vessel repairs and other improvement projects.
“Turnaround projects and other seasonal maintenance is typically staggered from June through September,” Patience said.
Turnaround activity for ConocoPhillips at Kuparuk will mainly be at Central Processing Facility 2, ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman told Petroleum News in an email. She said “generally the facility will be shut down from mid- to late June.”
“Alpine will be shut down for scheduled maintenance Aug. 20-25,” Lowman said.
Hilcorp Alaska, which operates the Endicott, Milne Point and Northstar fields, has no major turnarounds planned for the summer, spokeswoman Lori Nelson told Petroleum News in an email.
“We are performing a fair amount of maintenance on several turbines, compressors, generators and pumps during the TAPS proration periods,” Nelson said.
Alyeska’s planned work for the June 12-13 shutdown includes: replacement of pig launcher valves at Pump Station 1; isolation of below-ground piping at Pump Station 4 for internal integrity inspection using new technology; and testing all mainline valves between Isobel Pass and Thompson Pass, pipeline mileposts 610-775, to confirm valve sealing capacity.
Alyeska said it also has other project and major maintenance work planned for the coming months, with that work planned around the short shutdown and the second long-duration shutdown in late August.
The company said it conducts pipeline system shutdowns to perform maintenance and projects that can only be done while the pipeline is not in its regular operating stage, allowing crews time to work on projects simultaneously along the pipeline and at the Valdez Marine Terminal.
