State's refineries fuel Alaska: North Pole, Nikiski and Valdez refineries have reach across the state.

• Author: Jones, Patricia
• Position: Statistical Data Included

A black line stretching for hundreds of yards, dozens of Alaska Railroad tanker cars sit waiting to be filled with jet fuel at the North Pole refinery operated by Williams Alaska.

Loading the long tanker train with jet fuel is just one part of the overall daily operations schedule at the Interior Alaska oil refinery, the largest of its kind in the state.

Other refineries in Alaska include PetroStar's facilities in North Pole and in Valdez, and the Tesoro refinery in Nikiski, all smaller than the Williams refinery, which illuminates the night skies just outside of North Pole.

Jet fuel, which is a very stable fuel most similar to diesel, makes up the bulk of production at the Williams refinery, according to Jeff Cook, vice president of external affairs at Williams.

"On some of our days last summer, we produced over 41,000 barrels a day," he said, looking at the long line of rail cars being prepared for their train trip to Anchorage.

Williams produces anywhere from 37,000 to about 40,000 barrels of jet fuel a day. Measured by the way most individuals visualize fuel--it's more than 1.5 million gallons a day.

"Anywhere else, consumption is four times more gas than jet fuel, but here in Alaska, it's the opposite," Cook said.

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, a hub for both U.S. and international air cargo, consumes the majority of jet fuel produced by Williams, roughly 90 percent, Cook said. Hence the need for one to two daily fuel trains that travel from North Pole to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad track that stretches near the Parks Highway.

Most of those fuel trains carry anywhere from 80 to more than 100 tanker cars, sometimes up to 150 cars. Each tanker holds 22,000 gallons of jet fuel, roughly 500 barrels, Cook said. "Those 747 jet freighters take on about 40,000 gallons of fuel," he added.

Total daily production at the Williams plant is about 75,000 barrels of refined products, which also include gasoline, home heating fuel, naphtha, HAGO--a specialized, economic heavy oil mixture used by the on-site power plant operated by Golden Valley Electric Cooperative-and some asphalt in summer months.

In addition to Anchorage shipments of jet fuel, Williams exports some naphtha--a fuel that is weight-wise between diesel and gasoline--to Japan. Those exports have increased in recent years, with 68 barges shipped in 2001, compared to 58 the prior year.

Some naphtha is also shipped to California, where it is reformulated into specialized fuels to meet emission standards, Cook said.

About 155 employees work at the 25-year-old Williams refinery, a mainstay in the North Pole economic pie. First opened in 1977 as a refinery for home heating...