Pipeline
restarted after scheduled maintenance shutdown
ANCHORAGE, AK - Alyeska Pipeline
Service Company safely restarted the Trans Alaska Pipeline
System at approximately 7 p.m. Sunday, July 19, following a
successful scheduled maintenance shutdown.
Various projects were completed along the 800-mile pipeline
system during the shutdown, including one major project at Pump
Station 8. Crews installed a pig launcher at the station,
located 40 miles south of Fairbanks. A pig is a mechanical
device that is pushed through the pipeline by the oil to perform
various operations on the pipeline without stopping the flow of
oil.
Alyeska runs two basic types or
classes of pigs: cleaning pigs, and instrumented pigs – also
known as “smart” pigs. The data gathered from smart pig runs
allows engineers to identify any wall loss anomalies and to
assess any types of corrosion threats. The smart pig runs are
generally run every three years and on occasion more
frequently.
Currently, smart pigs run all the
way from Pump Station 4 just north of the Brooks Range, to
Valdez, where the pipeline ends. With lower throughputs, longer
pig transit time, and wax conditions, installing the pig
launcher at Pump Station 8 allows the pipeline segment from Pump
Station 4 to Valdez to be pigged in two shorter segments.
Forty-five
smaller work tasks up and down the line and at the Valdez Marine
Terminal were also completed during the scheduled shutdown. The
pipeline shut down at approximately 8 a.m. Saturday, July 18,
for a scheduled 36-hour period. Due to months of planning and
drawing on lessons learned from previous maintenance shutdowns,
projects were completed safely and ahead of schedule.
Alyeska conducts line-wide
shutdowns annually to allow maintenance crews time to work on
projects simultaneously along the pipeline and at the terminal.
These shutdowns coincide with the producers’ routine maintenance
on equipment and facilities on the North Slope.
For further information, contact
Matt Carle, External Affairs Manager, at 787-8870.
For more information on Alyeska,
visit the company’s website at
www.alyeska-pipe.com.
Source: Alyeska Pipeline Service
Company
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