Brief Pipeline Shutdown

The Trans Alaska Pipeline shutdown automatically at 7:30 this morning for approximately 20 minutes after fire detection and a halon discharge in the metering building at Pump Station 1. Halon is a fire suppressant used in TAPS facilities. The system responded as designed upon detection of an arc flash. The flash the system detected was from a welding device operated by a maintenance worker. Operations personnel at Pump Station 1 should have temporarily isolated the fire and halon discharge system during the maintenance to comply with the "hot" work permit that was issued, but failed to do so, causing the system to activate and the halon to discharge. After it was determined there was no fire and no damage, the reopen station command was issued and the pipeline was restarted at 7:52 am. Producers were cleared to resume 100 % production at 8:10 am.

Unannounced Oil Spill Drill Called by ADEC

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conversation called an unannounced oil spill drill on Tuesday, February 27 in Valdez. The scenario was a major tanker accident, requiring a full ramp-up and complete deployment of the Incident Command System (ICS) organization. The Valdez Emergency Operations Center (VEOC) was activated with phones, computers, fax machines, video, and printers brought on-line. In less than 2 hours, over 100 people responded to the all-day tabletop drill. A like number of people elsewhere within the TAPS organizations also provided assistance.

SERVS assists crew of sailboat ADANA

At 2230 on Monday, February 26, Alyeska Pipeline’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System (SERVS) responded to a call from the 35 foot sailing vessel ADANA. The vessel had anchored in Pt. Etches in Prince William Sound, having sailed in from the Gulf of Alaska. After winds in excess of 100 knots caused their anchor to drag, the two person crew snagged their anchor on the SERVS response barge mooring. It held a short time until the winds broke the boat free and set them adrift. The prevention and response tug ATTENTIVE, on sentinel duty in the vicinity, had been in contact with the vessel and actually notified the crew that they were drifting. Under the severe conditions, all parties agreed the safest recourse was to abandon the boat. Unable to move alongside the sailboat due to wind and sea conditions, the crew members donned survival suits provided by ATTENTIVE and entered the water to allow ATTENTIVE to get them onboard safely. In the words of the skipper of ADANA, "It was both amazing and comforting to see the calm professionalism of the crew of ATTENTIVE in our time of distress."

Pipeline Reliability for February

February Reliability              99.91%.

2001 Reliability                    99.96%.

February Throughput            28,430,000 BBLS

February Daily Average        1,015,000 MBPD

2001 Throughput                  60,162,000 BBLS

2001 Daily Average              1,020,000 MBPD

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) proration during February which impacted the reliability factor. 02/26/01 - Unplanned Pipeline shutdown due to a control panel relay failure at Pump Station 5.

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