Pipeline upgrade project reaches milestone
Last Modules Installed at Pump Station 3

The last of more than 70 Strategic Reconfiguration project modules were installed at Pump Station 3 last month. The module has a medium-size diesel generator that provides backup power and automatically starts and supplies enough power to run all critical systems in the unlikely event of a power failure. Pump Station 1 also received four modules in February after the modules’ weeklong trip from Point MacKenzie in the Mat-Su Valley to the North Slope.

Following Strategic Reconfiguration, Pump Stations 1, 3, 4 and 9 will feature three pump modules, each containing an electric motor, a crude oil pump, a lubrication oil skid, which supplies lube oil to the crude pump and motor, and a sump tank to collect any oil leakage. All of the modules are constructed at Anchorage fabrication shops then forwarded to pump stations by truck and trailer where they are placed on pilings five feet above the ground.

More than 200 construction personnel are installing these module platforms and erecting infrastructure for new operating components. Crews are also assembling structural steel supports for pipe and cable trays at each of the four pump stations. Cable trays contain electric components, connecting the modules to the new pump station operating equipment.

When station upgrades are complete, Alyeska will be able to pump up to 1.14 million barrels daily, and increased flexibility will allow operations to more easily adjust for changing flow volumes, reducing oil transportation costs and increasing safety and reliability. Volume increases can be made by adding additional pumping units at the electrified stations, by adding drag-reducing agents to improve flow rates and by putting more pump stations online. The current plan is to focus resources on starting PS 3 and 9 by the end of the year, with the goal of starting PS 1 and 4 early in 2007.