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Alyeska owners OK pipeline upgrades
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
Stage one of a modernization of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is a go.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. said March 4 that it has received approval from owners BP Pipelines (Alaska), ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., Williams Alaska Pipeline Co. and Unocal Pipeline Co. to invest more than $250 million in a project to upgrade the pipeline’s pump stations.
Alyeska called the project one of the most significant investments in the trans-Alaska pipeline since construction. The pipeline system was built in the 1970s and crude oil has been flowing through the line since 1977.
The pipeline reconfiguration includes installing electrically driven crude oil pumps at four critical pump stations, increasing automation and upgrading control systems. Alyeska said the project “will position TAPS well into the future with systems that are proven in the pipeline industry.”
Pipeline reconfiguration is a major component of several change efforts under way, the company said, and could reduce the cost of operating the pipeline by approximately 10 percent annually and eliminate maintenance costs for equipment and facilities no longer required, with at least 75 buildings placed in non-operational status.
“This use of modern technology and automation will maintain current pipeline reliability at a lower cost,” the company said.
In a brochure describing the upgrades Alyeska said the “control systems and automation and electrification technology are used in the pipeline industry all over the world, including cold weather climates similar to Alaska.” Remotely controlled pump stations Pump stations Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 9 will be reconfigured and controlled and operated remotely.
The company said the new pump stations units to be installed will be “modular and scalable to more easily accommodate changes in pipeline throughput.” The new configuration will support current and projected oil flows, Alyeska said, “and can be modified in about 24 months to accommodate significant increases in throughput — long before new fields can be developed.”
The pump stations to be upgraded are the ones “required for pipeline operations at any flow rate.”
Maintenance and spill response has been based at pump stations. Under the new configuration there will be maintenance and spill response bases at Prudhoe Bay (Pump Station 1), Galbraith (Pump Station 4), Prospect (Pump Station 5), Fairbanks and Glennallen, and field offices at the Yukon River and Delta Junction. Work force reductions Alyeska said that some 350 job reductions will occur over the next two to three years from the Alyeska work force of approximately 1,600, including contractors, and will be “roughly split between Alyeska and contract employees.”
The number of initial responders will not change, although staff in the field will be reduced. The oil spill contingency plan amendments for pipeline reconfiguration were approved in December and include pre-staging of response equipment at some locations, enhancement of pre-determined containment sites and use of longer-range helicopters that can carry larger payloads for initial response.
Alyeska said it “is working with regulators to increase emphasis on drills and training, and to ensure that all response requirements will be met prior to project conclusion.”
Changes to the system will not happen all at once, the company said. The next step in the project will be detailed engineering and ordering long-lead materials. Electrified station modules are scheduled to arrive at sites in 2005, with commissioning and startup of electrified pump stations to follow, and project completion scheduled by the end of 2005.
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