In the Field
Pump Stations get new operating equipment

Alyeska’s strategic reconfiguration project is upgrading the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) to reduce oil transportation costs and increase pipeline safety and reliability. Construction crews spent the summer of 2005 preparing Pump Stations 1, 3, 4 and 9 for new, electric-powered pump systems that must come on-line before their old-style pump systems can be decommissioned and removed.

The reconfigured pump stations will use standardized pump modules that will enable Alyeska to add or remove pumps to scale TAPS’ capacity to match long-term changes in North Slope oil production. They will also allow automated operation that will increase TAPS’ operating efficiency and reduce pump station size and environmental impact. The stations’ individual operating components will be housed in arctic enclosures that will protect equipment and enable maintenance crews to work in weatherproof conditions. The four reconfigured pump stations will initially have three new pump modules each. At right, workers install an electric pump module at Pump Station 4 in November 2005.

The modules are being built in Anchorage and then transported by truck to the pump stations for installation. Each module includes:

• Electric pump motor
• Crude oil pump
• Lubrication oil skid to lubricate the pump and motor
• Sump tank to collect any leaked oil

The pump modules must be connected to variable frequency drive modules at the pump station to control the electric motor speed and thus the pump rate. Project managers expect to have all four electrified pump systems online before the end of 2006.