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Evaluation of VMT remote control planned
An oil industry watchdog organization wants to study how remote control operations are working at the tanker terminal in Valdez.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council says it intends to hire a consultant by Dec. 15 to conduct the study.
The consultant will examine such questions as whether Anchorage-based controllers of assets at the Valdez Marine Terminal, or VMT, are “properly trained,” says a council request for proposals.
The terminal is where tankers pick up Alaska North Slope crude oil for delivery to West Coast refineries. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., an energy company consortium headquartered in Anchorage, operates the terminal, which sits at the southern end of the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline.
The VMT is a massive complex of oil storage tanks, ship piers and loading arms.
Remote operations centers The pipeline and Valdez terminal have been in operation since 1977.
The facilities previously were run from a control center in Valdez. In 2007 and 2008, Alyeska established two new centers, the main one in Anchorage and a backup in Palmer, and shifted to remote control operations.
Alyeska said at the time it was an efficiency move made possible by such technological advances as high-speed Internet and fiber optics.
The citizens’ council, a congressionally sanctioned and industry-funded nonprofit established after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, said its consultant will assess the capability of remote controllers to “reliably control operations at the VMT or to appropriately interface with local controllers at the VMT.”
Specifically, the consultant will identify which VMT assets are subject to remote control and which are under local control; review whether Anchorage-based controllers are properly trained; verify the extent to which redundancy of communications exists for VMT control; assess the likelihood that damage to communications could affect Alyeska’s ability to control the terminal; assess whether remote control provides the same level of VMT control as when the operations center was located in Valdez; and verify the extent to which Alyeska can control the VMT from Anchorage without “environmental incident.”
The consultant’s final report will be due Aug. 15, 2012.
The citizens’ council is charged with oversight of the marine terminal and associated tankers; it does not have oversight over the length of the pipeline.
—Wesley Loy
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