The Observer, January 2006

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December was a milestone month for Alyeska

The last few weeks of 2005 saw two big milestones for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.
On Dec. 14, Alyeska’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System escorted its 10,000th loaded tanker through Prince William Sound since the system was formed after the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989.

The 10,000th load was carried by ConocoPhillips’ double-hull tanker, the Polar Resolution. It left the Alyeska terminal in Valdez at 7:01 a.m. under the command of Captain Ray Geisler, bound for Ferndale, Wash., with 900,000 barrels of North Slope crude aboard. It was escorted by the tugs Alert and Nanuq, commanded by Captains Dave Sweeny and Grady Harker, respectively.

Before the Exxon spill, only one escort tug accompanied each tanker, and it turned back after the tanker passed through Valdez Narrows, several miles north of the spill site. Today, escorts are required until the tanker leaves the Sound through Hinchinbrook Entrance and enters the Gulf of Alaska.

Alyeska’s other December milestone was the Dec. 21 arrival of the 15 billionth barrel of oil at Pump Station One, where North Slope crude begins its journey south. Oil flow through the pipeline today is around 900,000 barrels a day, well below the peak of 2.1 million barrels a day.

Because some oil is taken out by refineries along the 800-mile pipeline to Prince William Sound, the 15 billionth barrel will not be loaded onto a tanker until about December 2007, according to Alyeska.

More oil has moved through the pipeline since the Exxon spill than did so before the accident. According to Alyeska figures, just under 7 billion barrels passed Pump Station One from pipeline startup in 1977 through March of 1989, meaning just over 8 billion barrels have passed it since.