Quake damage keeps Alaska pipeline closed
ANCHORAGE - The last oil stored at the trans-Alaska oil pipeline terminus in Valdez has been loaded and no more crude will be shipped south until the pipeline is repaired and restarted.
As of midday today, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. hadn't decided when the pipeline could resume operations. Spokesman Mike Heatwole said the company is reviewing 160 key components of 211 miles of pipe closest to a major earthquake that hit Interior Alaska on Sunday.
"We want to get operational as soon as we can but with a solid eye on the integrity of the system and the safety of the system and our personnel," Heatwole said. "We don't want to rush it."
The magnitude 7.9 quake hit at 1:13 p.m. Sunday. It was centered in a sparsely populated area 90 miles south of Fairbanks and 45 miles east of Denali National Park.
The pipeline remained idle this morning as more 100 workers scrambled to shore up damaged supports or looked for further damage. Crews spent Monday building wooden cribs to lessen stress on the pipe where supports were damaged.
The quake cracked highways and roads, triggered rock slides, shook houses and knocked over private fuel tanks. State teams organized by the Division of Emergency Services were scheduled to leave Wednesday to assess damage in rural areas.
School officials at Mentasta Lake 38 miles southwest of Tok did not wait for a disaster declaration. Officials moved 40 students and three teachers to the village senior center for classes after spotting cracked beams in the library, buckled floors and damage to the front entryway.
"Everything fell off the shelves in the library," said Carol Doyle, superintendent of Alaska Gateway Schools. The district's maintenance supervisor visited Monday to inspect damage, she said.
The school was the community's polling place. Tom Godkin, acting election supervisor in Fairbanks, said voters also would move next door for the election today.
Anita Adams, tribal operations specialist for the Mentasta Traditional Council, said a 14-family apartment complex was evacuated after water lines broke and people smelled propane. The earthquake also damaged foundations of several single-family homes and the Mentasta Christian Center.
"It looks like there's a lot of structural damage," she said.
The other problem remaining is diesel oil leaked from storage tanks turned over by the earthquake, Adams said.
Throughout the affected area, road crews continued repairs and reported the Richardson, Alaska and Parks highways were open, as well as the Tok Cutoff connecting the Alaska Highway at Tok to the Richardson Highway at Gakona.
Damage was found in some of the North Slope-to-Valdez oil pipeline's supports. About half of the 800-mile, 48-inch diameter line is above ground, supported by H-shape vertical support members. Connecting the pipe and the vertical support members are "shoes" that shift when the pipe contracts, expands or moves from an earthquake.
Alyeska found shoes broken off and on the ground at eight sites. At five locations, Alyeska found crossbeams on the ground, leaving the pipe suspended.
The survey work included inspection of three bridges, excavation and evaluation of a remote valve and pressure testing of pipe sections.
Heatwole said tanker loading could resume about 24 hours after restarting the pipeline.
Oil analysts had little concern the pipeline shutdown would dramatically effect supplies or prices.
"As far as affecting the world's oil markets, it would probably have to be knocked out a month or more," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.
Silliere said damage to a pumping station would be of much greater concern than a rupture in the pipeline, which could more easily be fixed.
The earthquake was the second major episode on the Denali Fault in Interior Alaska in the last two weeks. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake centered about 30 miles southeast of Denali National Park hit at 3:27 a.m. Oct. 23.