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Alyeska sets summer maintenance
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
It’s planned maintenance season in Alaska, with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. announcing several pipeline shutdowns this summer. The company said May 31 that the line-wide shutdowns, from 12 to 18 hours, allow for maintenance work along the line and at the Valdez Marine Terminal “while the pipeline is not in its regular operating state.”
The company said there will be three planned maintenance shutdowns between June 15 and July 6.
Alyeska operates the pipeline and terminal on behalf of owners BP Pipelines (Alaska), ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. and Unocal Pipeline Co.
The company said Alyeska employees and contractors will complete projects at various locations along the line from Pump Station No. 1 in Prudhoe Bay to the Valdez Marine Terminal. Planned work includes: enhancing the safety integrity pressure protection system; preparing for inline inspection of the line beginning in the fall; replacing 6-inch bypass valves and spool of a mainline check valve; and conducting annual inspection and maintenance of the Pump Station No. 9 power substation.
“Planned major maintenance plays a critical role in sustaining TAPS for decades to come,” said Alyeska President Tom Barrett. “Alyeska maintains the pipeline as our commitment to the integrity of the system and people of Alaska.”
Slope turnarounds Operators on the North Slope take advantage of the Alyeska shutdown and summer weather to schedule turnarounds.
BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience told Petroleum News in a June 1 email that several temporary brief outages are planned for the summer, along with other maintenance.
“BP has normal planned summer maintenance at Prudhoe Bay this summer,” she said, with work “focused on piping replacements, facility maintenance, vessel repairs and other improvement projects.” Patience said summer maintenance and temporary facility shutdowns take advantage of temporary pipeline shutdowns and the milder summer weather in the Arctic.
ConocoPhillips Alaska also has turnarounds planned, spokeswoman Natalie Lowman said in a June 6 email, including “major maintenance work and a shutdown in mid-June at the Kuparuk CPF2 facility.” She said the company’s western operations staff has “a major maintenance shutdown” planned for Alpine in mid-July.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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