Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. expects to have two key parts of its $400 million-plus pump station reconfiguration project complete by mid-January, but says it is now re-evaluating options for completing other parts of the project.
Shortages of skilled workers and competing demands on contractors are causing parts of the project to be delayed, Alyeska spokesman Mike Heatwole said.
Alyeska had initially hoped to have the work finished by the end of 2006, but parts of the project will now be done in 2007 and the final part completed in 2008.
Conversion of Pump Station 9, near Delta Junction in Interior Alaska, and completion of a new control system for the pipeline were earlier planned to be complete by the end of 2006. Those projects will be done by the end of January, a one-month delay, Heatwole said.
Two other pump station projects, at Pump Stations 3 and 4, will be completed in 2007, but the final pump station reconfiguration, Pump Station 1 at Prudhoe Bay, is now likely to be pushed into 2008, Heatwole said.
Modernizing the pump stations involves installation of new-technology electric pumps and remote control systems, essentially automating the pump stations.
Shortages of trained workers, equipment and materials — which is plaguing all parts of the petroleum industry — are having impacts on the project, he said. A decision to delay Pump Station 1 work is directly related to the high levels of North Slope activity on other projects, as well as demand on contractors, the work force and shortages of bed-space for workers on the Slope, Heatwole said.
On a related project, a plan to upgrade and modernize the Valdez Marine Terminal is on the shelf for a while, Heatwole said. For the next two years, Alyeska will put its emphasis on reconfiguring the Ballast Water Treatment plant at the Valdez terminal to solve problems created by a reduction of ballast water volumes from tankers calling at Valdez, he said.
Refitting the pump stations will reduce costs for Alyeska but will also allow the company to more effectively manage reduced volumes of crude oil moving through the 800-mile pipeline. At its peak, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline moved more than 2 million barrels per day, but declining production in North Slope oil fields has now brought the volume down to about 800,000 barrels daily.
Tim Bradner can be reached at
tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.
