Berth Work in Valdez
Continues
Work
continues to bring two of the four Valdez crude oil loading berths back
into full operation. Currently Berths 1 and 5 are fully
operational. Berth 3 is expected to be available for crude loading
by mid-November with deballasting anticipated by early December.
The
current plan for Berth 4 is to get it fully operational by the end of
December. It is currently available for full deballasting.
Berth 4 was taken out of service in August for a major maintenance
overhaul designed to create a 10 year maintenance life-cycle. This
included the installation of new crude oil loading arms and a design
change for the flow control valves from 24” to 16 ”. The
expectation for the new flow control valves was an improvement to the
current system. The result was cavitation and vibration during the
restart of the loading arms. Alyeska placed the berth into
restricted use status to work out a solution to this issue. The
interim plan is to replace the new 16” valves with the original 24”
valves by the end of December to regain crude loading capabilities at
the berth while a long term solution is worked out. Alyeska expects to
perform similar maintenance work on Berth 5 next year.
Including
the berth work, Alyeska has identified several major projects for 2001:
clean and add cathodic protection for two crude oil holding tanks; clean
and raise Ballast Water Treatment Tank 92; rebuild a vapor compressor;
work on the incinerator waste gas piping and the fire system at the
terminal. Senior Alyeska management conducted a community briefing
in Valdez on Wednesday, November 8th to share the status of the berth
work, the recent near miss issues, and Alyeska’s 2001 work plan with
interested residents.
Alyeska
has operated without any impact to the West Coast energy supply since
the repair work began in Valdez.
Alyeska
Announces Minor Organizational Changes
Alyeska
recently made some changes in the overall organization of the company to
help operate the pipeline more efficiently. Alyeska has divided
the asset management of the pipeline into a northern and southern asset
structure. When Alyeska started operating the Trans Alaska
pipeline in 1977, there were 12 pump stations or “assets” that were
spread along the 800 miles of pipe. These pump stations, used to
help move the oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, each had their own asset
manager. Since that time, Alyeska has reduced the number of
operating pump stations to seven and most recently reduced the number of
asset managers to two.
Rich
Skvarch, currently Pump Station 1 Asset Manager, is now the Northern
Pipeline Asset Manager and Jim Giles, currently Asset Manager for Pump
Stations 7 through 10, is now the Southern Pipeline Asset Manager
reporting. Skvarch will have accountability for Pump Stations 1
through 4 and Giles will have accountability for Pump Stations 5 through
12.
Asset
managers displaced due to the reorganization have been placed in other
management positions within Alyeska.
Pipeline
Reliability for October 2000
October
Reliability 99.20%.
2000 Reliability
99.61%.
October Throughput 30,908,000 BBLS
October Daily Average: 997,000 BPD
2000 Throughput:
303,025,000 BBLS
2000 Daily Average: 994,000 BPD
The
pipeline reliability factor is the amount of time the pipeline is
operating and available to transport North Slope Crude oil. There
was one (1) production proration during October 10/07/00 - Planned
line-wide slow down for maintenance. 250,053 Barrels deferred.
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