Trans-Alaska pipeline back in operation

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was back in full operation Jan. 10, one day after a loose fitting on a secondary pipe caused a leak that shut down the 800-mile pipeline for hours, with some 900,000 barrels per day flowing through the line.

Two tanks at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope hold 210,000 barrels each, said Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. spokesman Mike Heatwole.

“We are running at higher rates for a little while to just get us back to the normal average of about 800,000 barrels,” Heatwole said.

The pipeline was shut down for about six hours Jan. 9. The process to restart it began at 2:45 p.m., after work was completed to tighten a loose fitting on a pipe at a valve in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska.

The spill was discovered by a worker doing snow removal at Remote Gate Valve 32 south of Atigun Pass. It is one of 178 mainline valves in the pipeline system used to regulate the flow of oil and shut down segments of pipe.

About 500 gallons of oil spilled on a gravel access road at the site, Heatwole said.

Alyeska was assembling a team to try to determine how the fitting became loose. It was loose by a turn and a half, Heatwole said.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Joint Pipeline Office, a state and federal agency that oversees pipeline operations, were being invited to join the investigation, he said. Cleanup crews were at the site Jan. 10.

—The Associated Press