'Tackling issues before they become problems'.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: TAPS PHILOSOPHY

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In the cartoon, a doctor in a white coat is tightly wrapping the trans-Alaska oil pipeline with a megasize roll of first-aid tape. The vertical support members (VSM) that typically cradle and support the 800-mile pipe in aboveground sections have been replaced with wobbly crutches.

Maintenance and operations officials at Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. (APSC), responsible for operating and maintaining the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), would probably say this depicts preventative maintenance, much like a high performance athlete tapes bones and joints to prevent injuries during the game.

"Alyeska's philosophy is to tackle maintenance issues before they become problems," says John Baldridge, senior director for pipeline operations, of the company's strategy to run the 33-year-old pipeline safely and efficiently.

Richard Fineberg, a long-time critic of the oil industry, APSC and all pipeline-related matters would likely say that the drawing depicts another example of cost-cutting measures that are being used to repair the aging structure while putting Alaska in grave danger of having another oil spill. In fact, Fineberg used this very art on one of several reports he has written over the past 30 years called "Pipeline in Peril: Alaska at Risk on the 20th Anniversary of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline."

Although the terms "maintenance and operations" sound as if they could refer to the building's cleaning and grounds crew, when it comes to the pipeline this department is the pivotal point for virtually everything the company says it stands for: providing a safe, environmentally responsible, cost-effective and reliable means to move liquid hydrocarbons to market, reflecting its belief in the company's dedication to the integrity of TAPS and to providing a reliable supply of Alaska North Slope crude oil.

According to Baldridge, about 85 percent of APSC resources go into maintaining the system, which is operated round-the-clock from a control center in Anchorage, where a small group comprises the operations team responsible for opening and closing valves, and adjusting flow speeds from Pump Station 1, just south of Prudhoe Bay, to Valdez. Currently, the focus of this activity is Pump Stations 1, 3, 4 and 9.

When pipeline construction was completed in 1977, there were eight pump stations, and one relief station. Two additional pump stations were commissioned in 1981 as flow was increasing, ultimately reaching 2.1 million barrels per day in 1989. Since then, pump stations have continued to be taken offline as the amount of oil being carried from the North Slope to the Valdez Marine Terminal (VMT) continues to drop off due to lack of production. Lower throughput requires less pumping to maintain momentum.

The year-to-date average of oil moving from Pump Station 1 on the North Slope to Valdez is 620,711 barrels per day, substantially less than its peak load of 2.03 million carried in 1988. By 2015, it is anticipated that this daily oil throughput will approach 500,000 barrels unless additional sources...