Alyeska Releases Alaska Pipeline Low-flow Study

DAN JOLING

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A newly released $10 million study lays out measures needed to effectively operate the trans-Alaska pipeline as available oil diminishes to a fraction of the line's capacity.

The study done for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., released Wednesday, concluded that the 800-mile pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez can be operated safely down to 350,000 barrels per day if measures are taken to prevent ice and wax buildup and corrosion, problems that accompany low flow.

Alaska's U.S. senators said the study is a wakeup call to find more sources of oil for the line, the lifeblood of the state economy, before low flow causes operators to simply close it because it cannot be effectively operated.

"If we don't act quickly to get more oil in the pipeline, that could go away in just a decade," said Democrat Mark Begich, calling the pipeline a national asset that delivers about 12 percent of U.S. oil production. "That's why I'm aggressively pushing for approval of more oil and gas development on federal lands and in federal waters."

Republican Lisa Murkowski said the report spells out the importance of finding and producing more oil.

"We cannot afford to let the pipeline die from the federal government's neglect," she said.

The possibility of the pipeline shutting down has become a major political issue in Alaska, where upward of 90 percent of state revenue comes from the petroleum industry. Besides pushing for offshore development in Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, Alaska's elected officials have debated changing state tax law or providing other industry incentives to push for more production.

Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan said study has been in the works for two years. Flow rates are at their lowest in the history of the pipeline.

"Knowing that we're going into this new territory, and that TAPS was not designed to transport cold crude, we recognized that we would have problems," Egan said.