The Trans-Alaska Pipeline; 20 Years of Arctic Oil

Oh. For. The 800 mile Trans-Alaska pipeline the largest privately funded project of its time is one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century and remains one of the longest pipeline systems in the world. More than 11 and a half billion barrels of North Slope crude have been sent through the pipeline since production began in the summer of 1977. Transforming the remote territory of Alaska into one of the nation's wealthiest states. Long before recorded history the energy potential of Alaska's arctic coast was

well-known to its inhabitants early 19th century explorers recorded the people's use of oil soaked tundra as a fuel for their cooking stoves and oil in the ground work that led to the discovery of the crude obay oil field was laid by the United States Geological Service beginning in the early 1900s and nineteen one U.S. Geological Survey in the first place. Ya'll just across the brooks ranges where you have written record that by Mr. Schrader it was very sharp geologists noted that. They train the geology especially the Cretaceous sediments in front of the rocks ranges from the largest sedimentary basin in North America. They wrote a very one excellent report and that was the beginning of setting up a moment later for years to come.

And so that when we went in for the oil industry from the 50s. The 60s. We follow that same pattern many I was and some did not. We did and so it was pretty well set up so what we were doing and I was doing it mostly improving on what they had done because as far as I'm concerned they made no mistakes. They could give the whole oil industry interest in Alaska's northern region spurred on by commercial oil production of the Catawba field on the Gulf of Alaska. But the discovery of oil and gas deposits in the much more accessible regions of Oklahoma and Texas meant that for the time being the Arctic would remain distant and forgotten. Following World War One strategic military concerns turn the country's attention back to Alaska's North Slope. In 1923 President Warren Harding signed an executive order

creating the naval petroleum reserve number for a 37000 square mile section of Alaska's Western Arctic Coast that was set aside in anticipation of future military need. But it wasn't until World War 2 with Alaska's important strategic location recognized. That serious oil exploration began. We started out in 44 and went through the ninth three years of your logic. And we worked the river from essentially cable is burnt to the Canadian border when we did the geologic field work we did not have the helicopters or anything else we were flown in before the snow left the ground by around the 15th of May and then we went on a road and set up our tents near a stream and put up our boats now wife would break up and I would break up. We essentially did the same thing. Mr. Schrader did 911 and Smith

murdered did one thing. 24 through 26. So except we had that airplane which was a heck of advantage we're going to have to dog sleds room like we could be flown in and several days in a matter of hours and be on location and started work. Although oil exploration on the North Slope initially proved disappointing. By 1957 oil was discovered further south in Alaska. This time on the Kenai Peninsula the Swanson River oil field on the Kenai was originally developed by the Richfield Oil Corporation predecessor to the Atlantic Richfield company that would later go on to discover the Pruett obey field with its partner humble oil. Under the Statehood Act Alaska's First Governor Bill Egan selected one hundred four million acres of land previously owned by the United States government. Included in the selection was one hundred twenty five mile stretch of land on the coast between the naval

Petroleum Reserve and the Arctic National Wildlife range now known as Anwar the Arctic region was chosen primarily because state officials believe there was an excellent chance of finding oil there. The bold move was to plant out favorably for the young state. It probably has to do with intuition or whatever. Very remember flying through wanted to be passive. In 1906 and you saw that great expanse of rain come through that the North Slope. On its little bit like the Gulf of Mexico with the brain. And so I looked at that thing and literally I have to say I said Wow. And so I became governor when the first thing that I did go to a brutal way May of 1967 and carried Bemis and young Marco with me as a very real I went there well in my Christmas. Mrs. governor would be supposed to bring your lawyer I says Harriet was not there all think up

there. Brill there's 40 billion barrels of oil that are. By 1967. The situation on the north slope looked bleak 10 expensive dry holes had been drilled many companies had lost heart and left the North Slope for less risky ventures elsewhere in the Atlantic Richfield company. After having drilled plugged and abandoned a dry hole at the Suzi Wildcats I. Decided to try drilling just one more when exploration staff from both sides of the newly merged company including former USGS geologist Mark mangas were certain that a large reservoir of oil could be found. Nothing to have an oil spill it is that you know you have to have the source or you have to have a trap and you have to have the resin on the case or brought out by this river the best you're about to cross for we had seen through your. Geology out there.

The geophysics and geology for the handing blabbed they were just Europe you have never seen a where I worked through the year I'm ever so in geology it turned out and your brother joined I shall work so well together. On March 13 1969 Arco stunned the nation with its discount. Flow rates of more than 2000 barrels of oil and 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day provided an initial estimate that the Pruett obey field contained between 5 to 10 billion barrels of oil. Ten years later Harry Jamieson came back to Alaska and 77 and he says he called a press conference and he said I'm here to reconfirm what Governor Rendell said then there's 40 billion barrels of oil that will waive the point that you know that's an absolute work and immediately following the announcement of the pujo Bayfield the state of Alaska received 900

million dollars from one of the sail. In oil industry jargon. And Elephant had just been found in the Arctic. How to get the elephant to market became the next hurdle. So to go there now what is the North Slope of Alaska and why is everybody so excited about it. You think OK there's ample reason why everybody's excited they. Probably the largest oil fines on this continent were discovered in 1967. And the problem of course is to get that oil to market. And what the environmental problem is that represents and in fact the whole issue of the North Slope and the discovery of oil in Alaska and this quantity as has become the cutting edge of the entire industrial environmental confrontation that this nation has undergone and you know we in Alaska are the cutting edge of it's very costly to us.

Within a year after discovery a consortium approved obey leaseholders decided to build an 800 mile pipeline from Pruitt obey to the ice free port of Bell these Alaska. From there the oil would be shipped to be a tanker to oil refineries on the West Coast and the lower 48 states. At the time it was expected that the project would take two years and 900 million dollars to complete. No one could have predicted what happened next. In the 1970s tides of change were sweeping across American society. A grassroots environmental movement gained momentum culminating with the passage in 1071 of a national environmental protection that many considered Alaska the place to atone for the environmental SINS OF THE NATION. There were concerns about development in permafrost areas whether or not the pipeline would interfere with caribou migration and the risk of oil spills in

the event of another large earthquake. There were also unresolved landownership questions shortly after the National Environmental Policy Act was passed. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 helped establish a process for determining native claims on lands in Alaska including the oil rich north slope. Meanwhile the Alaska pipeline laid dormant. The pipes stacked in storage yards and Val the cruel Bay and Fairbanks as an result issues and lawsuits froze the project for five years. But it took the International Energy Crisis of 1973 to force the country to resolve its ambivalence about oil development. Gasoline shortages. Long lines and high prices for the first time vividly demonstrated America's dependence on oil and its vulnerability to events beyond its borders. In response the United States Senate passed the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in the fall of 1973 but only by the closest of margins with Vice President Spiro Agnew casting the final tie breaking vote after six years of controversy and more than twenty two hundred permits and authorisations Trans-Alaska pipeline construction have the green light. But first three hundred sixteen miles of gravel had to be laid down across interior Alaska in the construction of a permanent haul road that would link it all day with the rest of the state. Thirty two million cubic yards of gravel were mined for this project along. The gravel road completed in one hundred fifty four days is up to six feet thick and rests on top of additional insulation in order to keep the permafrost from melting and eroding. Six hundred tons of parts and supplies. 6000 tons of bridge material.

10 million gallons of fuel. In all. More than 3 million tons of material was shipped to Alaska for pipeline construction. On March 27 1975 the first pipe was laid across the tontine river 75 miles north of bounty. From the outset the project proved too complex to be managed by conventional methods. So the route was divided into five sections. Each section with its own management contractors and labor forwards. It required a different management style. In order to get the cooperation to get all the permits that were required. To satisfy. The the stipulations of the grant of right away special things that never been required on a pipeline before. To actually do the work and do it in the cadence of the construction sequence that was necessary to get it done. All of those things had to be married together. We came to the job with certain skills. When I was a project

engineer. I had done pipelines I'd done right away before I learned how to work with government agencies I learned how to work with multiple contractors. So it was kind of the marrying of existing skills and new skills that had never been required before in pipeline construction. Put it all together. At its peak the pipeline employed a force of just over. Twenty thousand workers spread over the twenty nine self-contained miniature cities that were the pipeline construction cans. Collectively they became known as Guinea city 800 miles long and a few hundred feet wide stretching from prude obey to Valley the thousands migrated to Alaska in search of the high wage jobs during the biggest economic boom to ever hit the forty ninth state. At one point the lure of pipeline jobs became so intense that employers in Fairbanks reported turnover rates of over 500 percent a year.

Although costly the time delays in getting the pipeline project started had been put to good use. Industry engineers conducted detailed construction studies and field test under the watchful eyes of regulatory overseers. The original plan to bury the entire pipeline was changed as their research in earthquake zones and permafrost soil revealed a better way to build above ground construction prevents the permafrost from melting an unstable soil area where the line had to be buried in unstable soils. It was refrigerated in order to maintain the thermal balance. The elevated supports more than 78000 and all are called vertical support members or VSM and are built to allow the pipe to contract and expand. The VS sims are strong enough to support the oilfield pipe and withstand the strong frost heaving action of Northern saw oil.

Many of the sands contain a unique passive refrigeration system that also keeps the unstable permafrost soil is frozen so they came up with the solution using vertical support members with heat pipes installed that would in effect pump the heat out of the ground. And it's a it's a passive system that uses the anhydrous ammonia. That. Condenses at a temperature of say 20 below. And. So on the ground being in the winter time relatively warmer than the outside air. I guess ammonium. Condenser is up in the top of the pipe. And drops back down to the bottom where it's below ground and picks up additional warmth. A prize once again rises to the top of the pipe and then condenses and the cycle keeps repeating itself thereby freezing back the ground around the birth of the sport member and creating a solid foundation for the bike. One it's an elegant solution to a pretty could be a very costly problem for a pipeline design like Woods I

think it was key to the permanent structure. Engineers also focused on designing a pipeline and facilities that could withstand potential seismic activity up to 8.5 on the Richter scale where the pipeline crosses the Denali fault. The worst of the three main earthquake zones along the pipeline has been designed to maintain its integrity through 20 foot lateral and five foot vertical movement to address caribou migration concerns. Engineers design the aboveground pipeline to be elevated by a minimum of five feet. In addition more than 500 special animal crossing were build. The design has withstood the test of time. Although study and debate have continued over the years. The Central Arctic Caribou population has steadily grown from about 6000 animals to more than 18000. The original pipeline design called for 12 pump stations. But

additional engineering studies showed less would do the job. So pump station 11 year Glenallan was never built. Each station houses the remote control with trained operators on site 24 hours a day. Even though most pipeline functions including remote shut off valves are controlled at the operations control center in Balad at full volume pump stations can push the oil through the lines at rates beyond sixty one thousand gallons per minute. About as fast as filling and Olympic sized swimming pool in 40 seconds. The Trans-Alaska pipeline begins at pujo Bay on Alaska's North Slope 12 miles south of the pump station number one. The pipeline is buried underground and thaw stable permafrost from the Arctic coastal plain. The pipeline follows the saga of underdog or Sag River up the attic and valley to the brooks mountain range. It is here in the Continental Divide area of adding in pass

that the pipeline reaches its highest elevation of four thousand seven hundred thirty nine feet coming out of the Brooks Range. The pipeline crosses several river valleys and the Arctic Circle. The pipeline continues south into the hills and must dig area north of Fairbanks where it crosses the Yukon River. At nearly twenty three hundred feet the EDL patent bridge named in memory of Alyeska is first president is the longest river crossing on the route. The pipeline turned south from Fairbanks crosses the Denali earthquake fault before climbing Isabel passing the Alaska mountain range. From here it descends into the Copper River Basin and up over the chu gets range through Thompson pass. If agon pass proved difficult. Thompson pass would provide the toughest technical challenge. It drops over eighteen hundred feet in wet rotten rock laced with glacial silt a unique cable system was developed to fly

pipeline sections into place as bulldozers attached to strong cables work 45 degree slopes. Well those two had to be strapped into safety harnesses as they welded the pipeline into place from Thompson pass the pipeline follow Sheep Creek up the south wall of Keystone Canyon. From here it crosses the tidal flats to the ice reported. Well these and the 1000 acre site of the marine terminal. On May 30 First of 1977 the final Weld was completed near pump station three and the first drop of oil enter the pipeline on June 20th. It had been nine long years since the first well had tapped into the huge hydro carbon reservoir at probate and now the crew began the 800 mile trip to valve at a stately speed of 1 mile per hour. And you know you know the slogan of project management.

We didn't know it but. One guy said. I wouldn't Mister for a million dollars. Good luck to you. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The engineering marvel what had been accomplished through a combination of State of the art technology a daring can do spirit in seat of the pants trial and there could now be studied in Arctic engineering courses at universities. During the North Slope production peak in the late 80s the Trans-Alaska Pipeline carried more than two million barrels of oil a day by nineteen eighty The first billionth barrel of oil had arrived in value. Alyeska had moved from a construction and startup mode into an operational and maintenance period. It was during this time that the company detected its first sign of mainline corrosion the corrosion eventually led

to Alyeska is largest post construction project with replacement of eight point five miles of buried pipe in the attic and River Valley in 1991. The company also quickly focused its energy on the development of a new technology to identify potential corrosion areas before they became a problem. The so-called smart pig developed by Alyeska in cooperation with a Japanese research team became the world's first ultrasonic corrosion inspection device. Higgs are all well field devices that are routinely pushed down the pipeline with the oil some scrape off accumulated wax or checked for corrosion and overall deformities in the pipeline. Smart use ultrasonic or magnetic flux technology to detect irregularities and possible corrosion and pipeline walls. With everyone concentrating on preventing an oil spill and the unthinkable happened in the water the oil industry and regulatory

agencies were taken by surprise as the Exxon Valdez went aground in March of 1989. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled into Prince William Sound in a second Alaska Good Friday disaster. This shocking class oil spill set off a period of heightened environmental concern as the oil companies and regulatory agencies struggled to figure out what went wrong. While cleaning up the beach use all oil companies operating in Alaska rebuys their oil spill contingency plans at this time. Alyeska created its ship escort response vessel system in response to a state order requiring that every oil laden tanker Yes guarded by two tugs through Prince William Sound. Oil production from the Bay field has been in decline for several years. Even so the Trans-Alaska pipeline continues to carry well over a million barrels of oil a day from Alaska's North Slope. The pipeline

infrastructure allows the oil industry to develop smaller oil fields nearby fields which have helped offset prove those production decline. But that wouldn't have been economically feasible to develop on their own technological advances also have played a role in bringing newer and smaller fields into production. Over the past five years Arco Alaska and BP exploration have added to the known oil reserves by about 1 billion barrels. And many more prospects have yet to be evaluated. While the infrastructure in place on the North Slope encourages development of smaller fields and possibly gas reserves the oil industry believes another Pruett obey sized oil field may lie hidden under the Arctic coastal plain in ANWAR to east the oil industry believes the area can be developed safely. Many environmentalists believe the area should remain intact. It will take an act of Congress to allow drilling and several years of controversy have

demonstrated that the country may be unwilling to commit to exploration and development. The sheer area of Alaska I've hundred seventy thousand square miles is in comprehensible to most Americans. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline occupies a total of 16 square miles of that vast area. But on any list of events that have shaped the state the construction of the pipeline would buy would statehood and the Gold Rush as a candidate for top spot. It's always fun to go back and look at Alaska Oil and Frog here mentality the way that the hard working spirit of the last frontier existed. It's that spirit that translated that transformed the Trans-Alaska pipeline system as well transcended. And that same frontier. We can do it. They're talented behind the whole creation of the state of Alaska is the way that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System

felt at the time. Now if you go back and you look at where we are today and you say what has had frontiers spirit this pipeline and those producers delivered. It's changed all of our lives. Without a doubt. Culture of a country is the fine schools and roads and public building that you have that's what you need. It isn't a case of leaving money to an individual to do something. But up here the individual can't do much land sell. It's a collective thing. The individual might want to see a boardwalk down the river or a nice building but he can't. A government has to do that. And so that's for probate train it was a mentality literally around the world so hey in a collective society if we do this the total so-called I'm hey it can work. Probate did that it changed Alaska. Read the good. With more than 5 billion barrels of recoverable crude obay oil reserves left.

New fields coming on line and the possibility of a gas pipeline. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is expected to be operational well into the next century. But if another barrel of oil was never discovered in Alaska the benefits of the bold drink that became the Trans-Alaska pipeline would still be filled by Alaskans for generations to come. Thank. You thank you and thank.

Thank thank. You and thank you. For a video copy or catalogue right here video at 3 8 7 7. University Drive Anchorage Alaska mag 9 5 0 8 or call 1 800 6 8 4 3 3 6 8 or 1 9 0 7 5 6 3 7 0 7 0 0 0 checks money orders and credit cards accepted.