Friday tentative day for start of pipeline shutdown

The trans-Alaska pipeline was targeted for a midnight Friday shutdown for emergency repairs despite some delays in getting crucial material to the North Slope.

Weather in Deadhorse delayed the shipment of some parts and equipment needed to bypass a leaking pipe at the 800-mile line's Pump Station 1, officials said Friday.

The midnight shutdown was tentative; company officials and regulators were expected to make a final decision late Friday night.

The leaking pipe discovered Jan. 8 at the pump station had forced a four-day shutdown of the flow of oil through the pipeline between that day and Tuesday. It was the second-longest shutdown in pipeline history. During those four days, North Slope oil producers had to reduce their output by 95 percent -- roughly $50 million per day of oil.

The pipeline restarted Tuesday at a reduced level, and on Friday was sending oil to the Valdez tanker port at a rate that exceeded 300,000 barrels per day.

Among other things, this week's restart allowed the pipeline's operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., to drain its two large oil storage tanks on the North Slope. The two tanks combined hold 420,000 barrels of oil.

Draining the tanks is expected to enable North Slope oil producers to keep pumping from oil wells at reduced levels during this weekend's shutdown, which Alyeska expects will last 36 hours.

Conoco Phillips and BP both operate North Slope oil fields affected by the shutdown. A BP spokesman on Friday said it was unclear how much oil production would be curtailed during the second shutdown but it wouldn't be as severe as the first one.

"It's like a ballet," said Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan of the efforts to get everything in place for the shutdown and the construction to bypass the leaking pipe.

She said the company won't shut down the pipeline unless it is comfortable that everything is in place to get the work done in 36 hours.

Alyeska runs the pipeline and Valdez tanker port for the five oil companies that own them: BP, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and Chevron.

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