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BLM studies long-term health of trans-Alaska pipeline Two contractors will assist Joint Pipeline Office in identifying critical systems, maintenance needed Petroleum News Alaska
The Bureau of Land Management said Oct. 16 that it has issued two contracts to study the condition of maintenance and long-term reliability of the trans-Alaska pipeline system. Consulting firms Aladon Ltd. and Spearhead System Consultants Ltd. have been retained to support and augment Joint Pipeline Office efforts to assess current trans-Alaska pipeline system maintenance management and to identify maintenance needed to ensure long-term safe operation of the system.
JPO said the consultants will help it produce an assessment of current maintenance management in mid-2001. Over the next two years the consultants, under JPO direction, will facilitate detailed and rigorous system integrity reviews of the critical hardware (such as pipe, tanks, valves, control systems and fire protection systems) necessary for safe operation. Contract work will begin immediately.
JPO spokesman Rob McWhorter told PNA that this is a two-part effort. The mid-2001 assessment, he said, “will give us a pretty good look at current maintenance for critical systems” while over the remaining period there will be a very rigorous and disciplined engineering analysis of critical systems. The contractors, he said, “will help us come up with a complete list of critical systems and a better understanding of which systems need what maintenance to take us well into the future.” Systematic process needed “The Joint Pipeline Office needs a systematic process to evaluate the integrity of critical TAPS systems and to measure the overall effectiveness of maintenance of the aging pipeline system,” Jerry Brossia, federal head of the JPO, said in a statement.
“These consultants will provide the additional analytical expertise we need,” he said. Brossia said the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Pipeline Safety, the state of Alaska and Alyeska Pipeline Safety Co. are participating and will all use the information in their system assessments.
The federal right-of-way grant for the pipeline requires it to be operated and maintained under sound engineering practices to the extent allowed by the state of the art and the development of technology. JPO said this standard will be used in evaluating trans-Alaska pipeline system maintenance as part of the JPO’s on-going oversight program. The information will also be used in processing future applications from the trans-Alaska pipeline system owners for the renewal of federal and state right-of-way leases. The federal right-of-way grant will be up for renewal in January 2004.
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