Alyeska work crews reconfigure Pump Station 12

Alyeska recently took one of the TAPS pump stations permanently out of pumping operations because the station was no longer needed to accommodate changing pipeline throughput demands from North Slope production. Some buildings and other physical infrastructure at Pump Station 12 (PS 12) were removed. During a pipeline shutdown on July 23-24, work crews installed a straight pipe bypass, isolating the station. The pumping purpose of the station is being retired and PS 12 will serve as a "flow-through" station. It will only be used to support cold restart - should that be necessary - which would require additional equipment and keeping a relief tank on site.

During the original construction of Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), PS 12 was constructed to help move oil at flow rates over 1.2 million barrels per day. The station is approximately 65 miles north of Valdez near the communities of Glennallen, Kenny Lake and the Greater Copper River Valley.

TAPS was originally designed to have 12 pump stations, but only 11 were built due to overall pumping efficiency and the development of drag reduction additive (a chemical additive that makes oil flow through the pipeline more easily by reducing turbulence within the oil flow and friction between the crude oil and pipe wall). Although pump station numbers run from 1 to 12, PS 11 was never operational. PS 5 is a pressure relief station on the south side of the Brooks Range which has no main line pumps.

Alyeska plans to install electrically driven oil pumps at Pump Stations 1, 3, 4 and 9 as part of its pipeline modernization project, known as Strategic Reconfiguration. The goal of the plan is to simplify operations and increase Alyeska's ability to more efficiently accommodate changing pipeline throughput demands.