President's Message
Kevin Hostler, President and CEO

Progress continues on Strategic Reconfiguration upgrade project

For the past several years, Alyeska has worked toward upgrading control systems and installing electrical pumps along the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. The upgrade project offers benefits in both improving our flexibility for future throughput levels with its modular and scalable design and providing a more cost effective transportation system. This project - which we refer to as Strategic Reconfiguration (SR) - began in 2004 and called for work at four pump stations simultaneously.

Crews spent more than two years working at Pump Stations 1, 3, 4, and 9, with the goal to complete the renovations and put the new systems online all at once as a complete integrated package. However, in 2006 we decided to do a phased startup instead, working on each station on an individual basis, allowing our crews to devote more attention to each successive pump station. We focused first on Pump Station 9. Also its proximity to the commercial power grid meant that we did not have to install onsite power generation, which reduced both construction time and also the complexity of the project.

SR pumps have operated reliably at Pump Station 9 for more than a year now. Commercial power provided by Golden Valley Electric Association has consistently met our operating needs. We learned a great deal from working with the new systems and pumps at Pump Station 9. Many of the lessons learned from that work was successfully applied to subsequent work at Pump Station 3, which began operating with the new equipment in December 2007. As our focus now turns to SR work at Pump Station 4, we expect to apply many of these same lessons to our work at that station.

This does not mean our SR work at any of these sites has been or will be without bumps. This is a challenging project - the most significant on TAPS since pipeline construction. But we continue to deal with and work through challenges as they arise, even if it means slowing the pace at times. No matter the setback, our commitment to safety, quality, and system integrity remains our top priority.

It is important to recognize the critical role our employees have played in this effort - from the project engineers, to the technicians and craft personnel in the field, and many others along the way. Their contributions have helped us move ahead with our Strategic Reconfiguration project.