Alaska Dispatch
\nMay 26, 2010<\/p>\n
\u00a0http:\/\/www.alaskadispatch.com\/dispatches\/energy\/5464-crews-check-risk-after-pump-station-oil-spill<\/a><\/p>\n Joshua Saul | May 26, 2010 While small amounts of oil kept leaking from the top of a damaged oil tank along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline Wednesday, workers examined the tank’s integrity and began estimating when the pump station could be powered back up.<\/p>\n The oil began spilling Tuesday morning from an oil tank at Pump Station 9 near Delta Junction, about a hundred miles south of Fairbanks. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the line on behalf of BP and four other oil companies, said several thousand barrels have spilled into a containment area.<\/p>\n Alyeska spokesperson Michele Egan said they’re not used to actually seeing the crude.<\/p>\n “It’s very unusual for us, but it’s completely contained,” she said.<\/p>\n No oil was flowing through the line Wednesday afternoon. Risk assessment crews from Alyeska are looking at the station and at Tank 190, according to Tom DeRuyter, an on-scene coordinator for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. One team completed a risk assessment on the station’s communication system, which caused the spill when it failed to shut off the oil flowing from the main pipeline back into the tank. The oil spilled out of the tank through vapor vents, and the tank was damaged near its top when the oil overflowed.<\/p>\n DeRuyter said two other risk assessment teams were working Wednesday: One was looking at reenergizing the pump station, and the other was examining the structural integrity of Tank 190.<\/p>\n Egan said while Pump Station 9 is shut down, North Slope producers are only pumping 16 percent of their normal output. There are tanks on the North Slope that can store the oil that would normally be flowing through the line, Egan said, and they have about 48 hours’ worth of capacity.<\/p>\n DeRuyter described the process Alyeska use to clean out their containment area: “They’ll be draining out the oil that’s in the secondary containment through the dewatering system. They’re going to hook into that and pull the oil out, and then they’ll need to go in and remove the oiled gravel that’s in there.”<\/p>\n DeRuyter said he hasn’t yet seen any startup plan for getting oil flowing again.<\/p>\n “From what I understand, there is still a light weeping of oil coming out of the vents,” he said.<\/p>\n Pump Station 9 provides the pressure that pushes crude over the Alaska Range and through Thompson Pass and complete its journey to Valdez, according to the agency that regulates the pipeline.<\/p>\n Contact Joshua Saul at jsaul@alaskadispatch.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Special thanks to Richard Charter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alaska Dispatch May 26, 2010 \u00a0http:\/\/www.alaskadispatch.com\/dispatches\/energy\/5464-crews-check-risk-after-pump-station-oil-spill Joshua Saul | May 26, 2010 \u00a0 Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. photo \u00a0http:\/\/www.alaskadispatch.com\/images\/media\/photos\/news\/energy\/oil-spill-pump-station-9-05-26-10.jpg Several thousand barrels of crude have spilled into a containment area at Pump Station 9 near Delta Junction. While small amounts of oil kept leaking from the top of a damaged oil tank along the trans-Alaska … Continue reading Alaska Dispatch: Crews check risk after pump station oil spill in Alaska<\/span>
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\nAlyeska Pipeline Service Co. photo
\n\u00a0http:\/\/www.alaskadispatch.com\/images\/media\/photos\/news\/energy\/oil-spill-pump-station-9-05-26-10.jpg<\/a>
\nSeveral thousand barrels of crude have spilled into a containment area
\nat Pump Station 9 near Delta Junction.<\/p>\n