Valdez Marine
Terminal
Valdez Marine Terminal (VMT)
The Valdez Marine Terminal, at the southern end of the Trans Alaska
Pipeline System, is where crude oil is loaded onto tankers for transport
to market. The VMT encompasses over 1,000 acres and has facilities for
crude oil metering, storage, transfer, and loading. Incoming crude oil
is metered and sent either to one of fourteen 510,000 barrel storage
tanks or directly to a tanker. To reduce air emissions, vapor recovery
systems collect crude oil vapors from storage tanks and loading arms at
two berths. Before transfer to a tanker begins, crews place an oil spill
containment boom around the entire berth and the tanker.
- VMT covers a total area of 1,000 acres with all facilities
except berths built on bedrock at elevations ranging between 15 feet
and 660 feet.
- VMT has 18 storage tanks with a capacity of more than 500,000
barrels per tank = 9.18 million barrels of total storage. Three
tankers are currently used.
- VMT has one floating- and three fixed-berths.
- Two loading berths have vapor recovery systems and conduct all
current loading.
- More than 19,000 tankers have been loaded since startup.
- All laden tankers are escorted some 70 miles through Prince
William Sound into the Gulf of Alaska.
Basic information
Total area — 1,000 acres
Cost to build — $1.4 billion
Elevation — sea level to 660 ft. All
facilities except berths 15 ft. or higher
Holding capacity in crude oil tanks —
9.18 million bbl.
Ballast water treatment
Average ballast water treated —
270,000 bbl./day
Capacity of system — 30,000 bbl./hour
Crude oil recovered from ballast —
800 bbl./day avg.
Purity standards —
1.0 ppm aromatic
hydrocarbons (daily max.)
Settling tanks —
- Capacity — 430,000 bbl. each
- Number — 3
- Dimensions — height, 53 ft. 6
in./diameter, 250 ft.
- Piping from berths to tanks — diameter,
42 in.
Biological Treatment Tanks — concrete,
above ground
- Capacity — 5.8 million gal. each
- Number — 2
Diffuser line at discharge into Port Valdez
—
- Depth — 300 ft. (maximum)
- Distance offshore — 700 ft. to 1,050
ft.
Time required for treatment — 21 hrs.
avg.
Berths
Basic information —
- Number — 4
- Types — 1 floating, 3 fixed platform
Designation —
- Fixed platform — Berths 3, 4 and 5
- Floating — Berth 1
Flotation, floating berth — 13
buoyancy chambers
Loading arms, number and size, each berth,
by berth type —
- Fixed platform — Four, 16 in.
- Floating — Four, 12 in.
Loading rate, each berth, by berth type
—
- Fixed platform — 100,000 bbl./hr.
- Floating — 80,000 bbl./hr.
Operating platform, size, by berth type
—
- Fixed platform — 122 ft. 6 in. long, 46
ft. wide
- Floating — 390 ft. long, 96 ft. wide
Tanker Vapor Recovery —
Berths 4 and 5 are fitted with vapor recovery arms to collect vapors
released during tanker loading. Tanker Vapor Control System
brought on-line Mar. 19, 1998
Time required to close loading arm
emergency shutoff valves — 6 seconds
Water depths at berths (mean low water)
—
- Berth 1 — 110 ft.
- Berths 3 and 4 — 90 ft.
- Berth 5 — 80 ft.
Weight, floating berth — 6.5 million
lbs.
Fire systems —
Portable extinguishing,
water and foam systems, halon, CO2.
Fire trucks —
4
Fire boats —
6 (tugs equipped with fire fighting equipment)
Fire training, personnel —
All Terminal Technicians
trained to Incipient Level.
Advanced training for
Exterior and Internet Level Fire Brigade members.
Annual refresher for all
three levels.
Fire training facility —
Smoke house, 5 fire extinguisher props, 4
major petroleum fire props, hydrants for structural training, and water drafting area.
Fuel requirements —
All Terminal and SERVS
operations (fuel oil equivalent) — 900 bbl./day, avg. (see all
operations fuel requirements under Pipeline Operations p.24)
Height of stacks
Holding tanks, crude oil
Capacity — 510,000 bbl. each; or 9.18
million bbl. total
Number — 18
Dimensions — height - 63.3 ft.,
diameter - 250 ft.
Floor thickness — 1/4 in. steel plate
(on concrete ring wall)
Wall thickness — graduated from 1-1/8
in. steel bottom ring, to 1/2 in. top ring
Type — Fixed, conical roof
Roof supports, number and size — 61
columns, diameter - 24 in.
"Slosh zone" 3'9"
Space enclosed by — 1.2 acre each,
approx.
Working inventory of, avg. — 85% of
max. or 7.8 million bbl. (approx 7.8 days of inventory at .999 mbpd.)
Containment dikes —
- Number of tanks in each — 2
- Capacity — 110% capacity of both tanks,
plus 4 ft. for water and snow accumulation
- Walls of, reinforcing steel in — 52
miles in each, diameter 1/2 in. to 3/8 in.
Power generation
Primary plant facilities —
3 steam boilers —
- output — 175,000 lb/hr. at 600 psig at
750° F, steam, each
3 condensing steam
turbine driven generators —
- capacity — 12.5 megawatts at 13.8 kv,
each
Standby systems —
- 2 twelve cylinder diesel generators —
capacity — 2.8 megawatts, total
- 4 uninterruptible
power supply systems supplied by a 125 volt battery bank for essential control
equipment
Vapor recovery
Number and type of gas compressors —
5, rotary 13,500 scfm each.
Two compressors dedicated to recovering vapors from storage tanks, two
compressors dedicated to recovering vapors from
Marine Tanker Berths and one swing compressor that can provide either
function.
Workforce
Construction, at peak — 4,300
Last updated June 23, 2004
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