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Alyeska puts brakes on trans-Alaska pipeline flow as winds hold up loading
The amount of oil flowing through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has been intentionally slowed because of high winds at the marine terminal in Valdez, where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipment to West Coast refineries.
The flow of oil is being reduced to about 25 percent of normal in several ways, Mike Heatwole, spokesman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said Nov. 21.
It is being slowed both by how much is being allowed to go into the 800-mile pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on the North Slope and by how fast it is flowing through the line to the terminal. The rate into the storage tanks is also being slowed, Heatwole said.
On Nov. 21 the pipeline was carrying about 300,000 barrels. The normal throughput is more than 800,000 bpd, Heatwole said.
January and February tend to be peak times for having to suspend operations because of wind, he said, but this wind was coming earlier than usual in the season.
“It’s a part of doing business in Alaska,” he said.
One tanker partially filled The last tanker left Valdez the night of Nov. 18. Loading operations that were begun on a tanker Nov. 19 were suspended the morning of Nov. 20 because of strong winds. That tanker remained partially filled Nov. 21.
“We are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get her loaded and sent out,” Heatwole said.
Another tanker at one of the terminal’s two loading docks was also waiting to be filled, he said.
The strong, gusty winds began blowing in Valdez about a week ago, said Robert Vandegraft, meteorological technician at the National Weather Service in Valdez. The strongest gust of 83 miles per hour was recorded on Nov. 19.
Vandegraft said sustained winds have been blowing at between 30 and 46 mph but have diminished some and are expected to remain in the range of 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph over the next few days.
The terminal, which has 14 tanks with a capacity of 500,000 barrels each, usually operates with tank capacity in the 30 percent to 60 percent range but was closer to 90 percent on Nov. 21, Heatwole said.
The pipeline was completely shut down for 10 hours Nov. 16 when the terminal’s storage tanks reached capacity.
Not only the strength of the winds but the direction is causing problems for terminal operators, Heatwole said. “It is coming at us from the Northeast … the toughest direction,” he said.
That’s because when tankers are loaded, a boom is put around them as a precaution against any oil leaks. If waves breach the boom, loading operations are suspended.
Winds out of the northeast make loading operations vulnerable to wave action, Heatwole said.
—Mary Pemberton
Associated Press
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