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State renews trans-Alaska pipeline, North Slope feeder lines
Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
State and industry officials celebrated the state renewal of the trans-Alaska pipeline and five North Slope feeder lines Nov. 26 in Anchorage.
Alaska Commissioner of Natural Resources Pat Pourchot said concerns expressed in the public process included the long-term integrity of the pipeline, safety, future public involvement and the removal of the facilities and rehabilitation when the line is finally decommissioned.
The state has addressed these concerns, he said. “We found that the pipeline continues to work as designed after 25 years of use, and that it can continue to operate safely for an additional 30 years or longer.”
Pourchot said that in response to concerns for public input, the JPO will “reenergize the executive council to hold more frequent meetings at locations along Taps to facilitate enhanced public participation in Taps-related issues and to provide more information on Taps operations to the public.”
The lease renewals, he said, also “ensure full parent company guarantees for the ultimate removal of facilities and the rehabilitation of state land.” “You haven’t aged a day” Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles called the signing a landmark event, and said to those in the audience who were involved 30 years ago: “You haven’t aged a day.”
The governor said one of the forecasts at the first 30-year lease signing was that a renewal wouldn’t be necessary, “because Prudhoe Bay would be finished.
We certainly know that isn’t true, he said. “I would venture to say that we will be just at the half-way point: not just the half-way point in chronology, with another 30-year lease, but the half-way point perhaps in terms of the hydrocarbons that are going to go down that pipeline.”
Knowles said that in spite of bullet holes and earthquakes, “the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has performed safely, as it was designed to do so, 30 years ago.”
Alaska has “the world’s safest transportation of oil from production to final port destination,” Knowles said. “Every barrel of oil that is produced here, is done so through the safest environmental measures anywhere in the world. … We have a record to stand on and we’re proud of it.” Asset has improved with age David Wight, president of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said material objects 25 years old are generally considered to be out of date, replaced by something new and better.
“In this case I think we’re looking at an asset that has improved with ago. It’s in its prime and there’s an opportunity to serve you well for the next 30 years.”
Wight said the trans-Alaska pipeline system “has met operating standards, either internally driven or required in state and federal law, that are demanded of no other pipeline in the world.” Employees and the system, he said, have been tested by the bullet hole and the recent earthquake and “the day-to-day challenges of a pipeline’s passage through the Alaskan environment.”
“We continue our partnership with Alaskans and our regulators, who challenge and question us on a daily basis in a collaborative way that began more than 30 years ago,” he said.
“This process, meeting the public expectations and the highest of operating standards, will serve us well for the next 30 years,” he said.
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