Temporary pipeline restart under consideration

Two cleaning devices called pigs are sitting in the trans-Alaska pipeline, and one of them is escalating concerns about ice and wax buildup during the current cold-weather shutdown, now in its fourth day.

The pig at issue is near Fairbanks between miles 419 and 420 near Wickersham Dome, north of Pump Station 8.

Operators of the pipeline and state and federal regulators are working on a plan to temporarily restart the flow of oil in the 800-mile-long pipeline, according to new information released today from the incident command center. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the pipeline for oil producers, and state and federal representatives make up the unified command team.

As oil in the pipeline cools, ice can form and wax can gel. "The concern is ... the pig could push some of that into the pump station equipment and could damage the equipment. And obviously we need those pumps to operate the pipeline," said Katie Pesznecker, a spokeswoman for Alyeska.

Oil would heat up if it began to flow again and reduce the risk of freezing. It also would allow the pig to flow down-pipe with the oil. Crews at the pump station could then trap the pig in between two valves. The oil would flow around that area through bypass piping already in place. The second pig is at Thompson Pass, north of Valdez, and not a concern.

Alyeska cut off the flow of oil around 9 a.m. Saturday after workers at Pump Station 1 on Alaska's North Slope discovered oil leaking into the basement of a building housing pumps that boost oil pressure. The company is working to install a 157-foot pipe to go around the damaged area, but it is not yet in place.

The temporary restart plan has not yet received approval from regulators.

Crews are preparing to capture additional oil that would leak from the damaged area during the temporary startup. They are installing an 800-gallon vault to hold oil recovered from the leak site and vacuum trucks are on site to remove oil from the vault.

So far the estimated spill size is 29 barrels, or 1,200 gallons. But it is growing. Oil has continued to seep from the damaged piping. No oil has been found outside the building.

During the shutdown, oil field operators have cut production to just 5 percent of normal, and that oil is being stored in two holding tanks on the North Slope. But those tanks are slowly filling. Restarting the pipeline would prevent them from reaching their capacity of 420,000 barrels -- two-thirds of what was being pumped from North Slope fields before the shutdown. Otherwise, production would have to halt altogether, according to the command center.

Steve Rinehart, spokesman for BP, which runs most of the North Slope oil fields on behalf of itself and other lease holders, said the company would not address whether the prolonged shutdown is creating cold weather problems at the wells, similar to what the pipeline is experiencing.

The production cutback due to the pipeline shutdown is costing the state of Alaska about $18 million per day in royalties and taxes.

The pipeline would have to be shut down again while new piping is installed at Pump Station 1 to bypass the damage.

About 450 people are responding to the incident, including Alyeska workers and contractors and government regulators. More than 200 of them are at Pump Station 1.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.

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