The Observer, May 2007

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Alyeska Viewpoint: Pipeline control center is relocating to Anchorage

By Mike Joyner, Alyeska’s Vice President, Oil Movements

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company will move its Operations Control Center from Valdez to Anchorage late this year.
The control center is currently located at the Valdez Marine Terminal and has been in continuous operation since 1977. At that time, Valdez was the most feasible choice for this operational task based on its proximity and access to the pipeline backbone telecommunications system.

In the last 30 years, numerous changes have occurred in both the infrastructure of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the technical assumptions underlying the original scope of the control center and the choice of the Valdez terminal as its site. The high bandwidth, wider range of access, and declining cost of telecommunication circuits made it possible for the company to consider locations such as Fairbanks and Anchorage. A modern distributed Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system now being implemented makes it easier to operate the pipeline system from another site such as Anchorage or Fairbanks, and to implement an alternate control site.

In line with these developments as well as other recommendations, in 1999, Alyeska conducted a risk-based assessment to further investigate the optimal location for the control center. A major conclusion of this analysis was that the best location is Anchorage, with Fairbanks as the second-rated site. In 2003, Alyeska took the information from the earlier study and conducted an economic and risk analysis for the optimal site for the control center. The findings of that study indicated that Anchorage is the best regional site for the control center.

Anchorage, because of its location, ranks most highly as it best integrates with pipeline system infrastructure, allowing for enhanced functional and organization efficiency. A centralized location more efficiently supports the majority of personnel who interact daily with the control center. This includes measurements personnel, pipeline schedulers, operations engineering, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system maintenance, telecommunication providers and control system vendors. With the control center at the hub of the telecommunications infrastructure for the pipeline system, there is redundant capability to control pipeline and terminal operations. Most pipeline operations centers are either co-located with the company headquarters or are located in close proximity.

In addition to being nearer to Anchorage-based personnel, the location also takes advantage of the availability of public infrastructure including access to airports, control system equipment vendors, telecomm providers, highway and surface transportation, and high availability and flexibility of flights to sites on the pipeline system. All flights traveling to pipeline locations either originate in Anchorage or must pass through it, and this central point of origin for travel makes it easier for employees to return to their families.

Alyeska did consider Fairbanks and Valdez. However, Anchorage allows for the best integration with future pipeline infrastructure under the current Strategic Reconfiguration Plan. Fairbanks ranked second overall in this analysis, with Valdez third.

It is important to emphasize that the relocation of the control center does not affect control and monitoring of the pipeline and terminal, while safety and system integrity are improved.