Alyeska reports, October 1976, vol. 2,no. 5.

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Published quarterly by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, buildéwef the trans Alaska Pip Jp ©, October 1976

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Photographs by Harald Sund

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>rudhoe Bays 96 Billion Barrels

hey’re developing
something like 9.6 billion

barrels of oil in Alaska’s
Prudhoe Bay field along the edge
of the Arctic Ocean. That’s more
proved reserves — in just one
field — than currently exist in
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas
and half of Texas combined.

The oil there was discovered
eight years ago and, so far, has
not returned a single penny for
the billions of dollars being
invested in the field — not to
mention the additional billions
expended on the Alyeska
pipeline system that will carry the
crude to market.

Obviously, the Prudhoe Bay
producers are making certain the
oil will be ready for delivery just
as soon as the Alyeska system is
ready to receive it. They've been
forced to wait for the pipeline and
they vow the pipeline will not
have to wait on them.

Titan tasks already have been
accomplished in preparation for
production. Much remains to be
done before scheduled output
can be achieved, but the
producers say they will be
waiting with plenty of wells and
plenty of capacity ahead of the
pipeline’s scheduled mid-1977
initial-stage completion as well as
all subsequent expansions.

Taking full advantage of the
nightless Arctic summer,
Prudhoe Bay’s two operating
companies are primed for the
final push to bring the field's
production level to 1.2 million
barrels daily in 1977. Subsequent
efforts will be devoted to
boosting the flow to about 1.5
million barrels daily and
maintaining productive capacity.

The two operators — BP
Alaska and Atlantic Richfield Ca.
(Arco) — acting on behalf of the
field’s 11 interest-owners, are
meeting State of Alaska
requirements to develop the field
as a single unit to ensure
maximum efficient production
and environmental protection
while avoiding unnecessary
duplication of common facilities.

For anormal field in the United
States, a single company would
act as operator. But the size of
the Prudhoe Bay field — it
underlies 250 square miles of the
Arctic tundra and permafrost —
and the extremely hostile
environment dictated a minimum
of two operators. No single
company could spare the
management, money and
manpower necessary to handle
development alone.

By Riley Wilson

Riley Wilson is oil editor of the Tulsa Daily
World and has written extensively about
Alaska oil developments.

Me PLA

Fingers of gas safety flare pipe extend over pond

P Alaska and Arco were
chosen by the 11 lease

holders to handle
operating tasks. Standard Oil of
Ohio is another major lease
holder. British Petroleum holds a
25 per cent stock interest in
Sohio, which will increase to 54
per cent shortly after the field
goes into production. Exxon Co.
USA is a partner with Arco,
contributing to the initial capital
investment and assisting in other
ways.

However, BP Alaska and Arco
management are basically
responsible for the field which,
for operating purposes, was
arbitrarily divided in half — BP
Alaska taking the western side
and Arco the eastern.

Different techniques are being
used by the two operators for
some installations and well
development, but the two firms
are not deviating basically from
the approved development plan.
This formula includes carefully
selected well locations and other
facilities to assure fullest and
most efficient recovery of
Prudhoe Bay’s oil as well as its 26
trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

All of the interest-owners
eventually will share in the
expenses and the production
according to ratios currently
being developed. The unitization
agreement when approved by
the State of Alaska, will assign
the specific shares based on
scientific evaluation of the
individual leases covering the
productive portion of the field.

Mobil Oil Corp., Phillips
Petroleum Co. and Standard Oil
Co. (Ind.), as partners ina
three-company group, will be
assigned shares jointly for
subsequent division among
themselves. Similarly, a
six-company group will receive a
single allocation for individual
breakdown. The six include
Amerada Hess Corp., Getty Oil
Co., Louisiana Land &
Exploration Co., Marathon Oil
Co., Placid Oil Co., and
Hunt Oil Co.

Sohio/BP, Arco and Exxon,
however, will account for the
lion’s share of the ownership,
although the field is so huge that
even a one per cent share Is
worth about 100 million barrels of
oil — a “major” field in the Lower
48 states.

rudhoe Bay’s wells are

being drilled directionally

from gravel pads — six or
eight wells per pad — to
bottom-hole locations that will
effectively drain the reservoir
over the years. :

Vertical depth of the oil zone is

about 9,000 feet. Because of the
angle, linear depth of the wells
often approaches 13,000 feet.
Initially, each well will drain an

average of about 640 acres, but
greater well density will be
required in some areas where
the oil column is thicker.

Drilling of the wells can
continue winter and summer from
the pads, which are made of
gravel. Some are up to 566 yards
long and 78 yards wide, allowing
the rigs to be moved from one
hole to the next with ease.

Each well takes about 30 days
to drill. BP and Arco are using
different techniques in their wells,
just as they have different
programs for handling the oil
after it leaves the wellheads. But
the effects are the same.

Once through the permafrost,
the drillers carry the holes into the
oil-bearing formation, install pipe
and the wellhead equipment,
called Christmas trees. These
shut in the well until production is
needed. At that time, rigs will be
returned to “perforate” the pipe
in the wells to allow the oil to flow
from the formation rocks into the
production facilities. Because the
wells on the slope flow naturally
due to gas pressure, no pumping
units will dot the landscape and
only a few rigs doing
maintenance or additional
development drilling will be
found throughout the 250 square
miles.

BP is using seven inch pipe to
carry the oil out of the ground and
Arco is.using five inch, but
average flow will be about the
same. Currently, BP is using two
drilling rigs — including a
mammoth unit especially
designed for mobility in the Arctic
environment. Arco Is using five
rigs.

hen on stream, wells will
be tied into production
facilities strategically

located throughout the field.
These facilities — called
“gathering centers” by BP and
“flow stations” by Arco — will
handle about 300,000 barrels
daily of crude each from

24 to 26 wells.

In 1977 there will be two
centers in operation on each side
of the field with a capacity of 1.2
million barrels daily. A third
center on each side is under
construction, giving amaximum
production capability of 1.8
million barrels daily. However,
when these are in operation,
production probably will not
exceed 1.5 million barrels daily,
carefully allotted among all wells.
This will provide flexibility
necessary to maintain total
production while some wells are
shut in for routine maintenance.

BP is laying flow lines from
each individual well directly into
its “gathering centers” while Arco
is combining oil from individual
wells at the drilling pads, then
moving the crude to its “flow

1) Standing pipe await
use in drill rig, 2) Drill ri
crew positions pipé

3) “Christmas tree” cap
drilled well, 4) Drill rig 4
Prudhoe Bay, 5) Worke

6) Control room at centré
gas compressor plani

7) Control panel at Bi
power plan}

Stations” by a common line. At
the center/stations of the two
firms, however, virtually the same
thing happens. The crude oil will
pass through equipment which
separates it from the natural gas
and small volumes of water that
are mixed with oil. The crude also
will be cooled to about 140
degrees Fahrenheit and then
delivered, through further
pipelines, to the Alyeska Pump
Station No. 1.

ater recovered from the
crude will be treated and
reinjected into disposal

wells at the station site.

Natural gas taken from the oil
will go through huge lines to a
single, giant compressor plant on
the Arco side of the field which
includes the “gas cap” that
overlies the oil formation.

Here, the natural gas will be
compressed and, mostly,
reinjected into the gas cap to
await the eventual completion of
a system pipeline to carry the
natural gas to market. When this
occurs, the compressor plant —
thanks to its design — can be
utilized to pump gas down the
gas pipeline.

A lot of the gas, however, will
be utilized at the compressor
plant and at the mammoth central
power station, which will provide —
electricity to all facilities at = ==
Prudhoe after completion of , .
subsequent stages of =
construction. With the equipment:
now in place, it already is ;
contributing greatly to electrical
power needs. Also, some gas will
power Alyeska’s pump stations
on the North Slope.

At all gathering center flow
stations, and at the compressor
plant, elaborate safety
precautions have been taken for
handling the gas. Included are
flare systems through which the
gas can be funneled for
emergency burning in case of

malfunctions.

Again, BP and Arco have taken
different approaches to achieve
the same results. BP will utilize a
few big vertical flares designed
to channel radiated heat away
from the tundra while effecting
such complete combustion
that the flames will be almost
invisible. Arco prefers a
horizontal system with thousands
of little flares — like candles on
a cake.

s with the Alyeska
Pipeline itself, the
Prudhoe Bay field's

operators are incorporating
designs to accommodate Arctic
wildlife including the caribou. The
ribbons of pipelines through the
field are buried in places to
provide caribou crossings.
For year-long access to all

sectors of the field, a 30-mile

we.

“spine-road” was constructed
with other roads shooting off as
necessary. Built of gravel five-feet
thick to protect the tundra and
permafrost, roads in the field now
total about 130 miles.

airstrip at Deadhorse, on the
edge of the field, a Prudhoe
Bay strip also lies in the active
area. Next to this strip, Arco built
its operations center. completing
the first section in the Summer
of 1970.

A spacious two-story complex,
it consists of a central building
with living quarters, water supply
system, power generation
system, vehicle storage, main-
tenance shop and warehouses.
Initially designed to house 210
workers, the center will be
expanded after the 1976 seailift to

I: addition to the commercial

accommodate 440 personnel.

Eight miles to the northwest
is BP Alaska’s three-story
operations center, a three-year-
old self-contained complex that
accommodates 140 people with
built-in expansion capabilities for
124 more as a result of the
1976 sealift.

Both the BP and the Arco
centers are designed to
withstand the rigors of the Arctic
while helping workers avoid
claustrophobia in the dark,
sub-zero winters.

BP’s multi-million dollar
structure includes a glass-
enclosed arboretum landscaped
with trees and tundra flowers plus
recreational facilities that include
a 40-foot swimming pool which
doubles as a reservoir for
fire-fighting purposes.

In addition to the operations

centers, BP has built two
500-man construction camps
and Arco has built one camp
capable of handling 1,750
workers engaged in the
installation of facilities. These
work camps are used by
employees of contractors and
subcontractors, mainly.

mong the other early
installations at Prudhoe
Bay were a small crude

oil processing plant opened in
1969, and an electric generation
facility.

The “topping plant” uses
about 13,000 barrels of crude
oil daily from nearby wells.
However, the output of useable
products — diesel fuel and
a naphtha-type gasoline —
amounts to a maximum of
3,500 barrels daily. The residue

is reinjected into the oil reservoir
below ground.

Also installed at Prudhoe Bay
in 1969 was a dock and staging
area on the southeast shore to
handle sea shipments.
Subsequently a new dock was
built about 10 miles to the
northwest and a 5,000-foot
extension was added last winter
to reach the deep-draft barges
which were caught in the ice
before being able to unload their
Cargoes.

The docks have allowed BP
and Arco — as well as Alyeska —
to utilize barge operations from
the lower 48 states. Because
barge transportation was
available, buildings for the
operations centers and many
other installations were
prefabricated as modular units in
the lower 48 and shipped to

Prudhoe Bay by sea. At the
docks, crawler units — like those
used to move space rockets onto
their pads — carried the modules
off the barges to their positions
ashore.

ometimes the barge

convoys have been

massive. In 1970, 70
barges carried 187,000 tons of
cargo. And sometimes the
barges haven't made it because
of the contrary Arctic ice pack. In
1975, some tugs and barges
turned back and others were
stopped short of the docks.

This year’s sealift, of about 60
modules and skid-mounted units
provided more facilities
necessary for the initial 1.2 million
barrels of production daily.

Prudhoe still, however, relies
heavily on aircraft, particularly for

| Prudhoe
| Bay ©

_{ BP Operations
Center
Re .
| Alyeska Pump. -
Station’ =,

Drill Site

i7 Pad/without
Structure

O Flow Stations/
Gathering Centers

Oot eee eM

0415345675 9 Km

Trans Alaska
Pipeline, reg

personnel, mail, rush-cargo and
perishable items. Aircraft haul
about 1.2 million pounds a
month. Trucks move additional
supplies over the Yukon-Prudhaee
haul road which links to the State
highway system.

Once production is
established, however, all of that
will change drastically. The two
operations centers will house
most of the permanent personnel
and the control facilities.
Construction workers will return
to wherever they came from, and
Prudhoe will start becoming a
mature field with a minimum
of activity.

\ARCO Operating Area

ow
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“i Dead Horse Airtield

t this time, the Prudhoe

Bay field resembles for all

the world a military
operation with thousands of
workers, hundreds of vehicles of
all types and scores of structures
in various states of readiness.

1) Generation plant
provides electric power for
field activities, 2) Feeder
lines installed, 3) Cause-
way extends out to sea,

4) Tugs and barges

reach Prudhoe Bay,

5) Collector pipes at

Flow Station One.

IN KEYSTONE CANYON £ JIM FABER

rom its capital city of
Fr Juneau to the beaches of

Nome, Alaska’s history is
colored gold. But etched in
copper is one of its gaudiest
chapters — The Shootout at
Keystone Canyon.

By 1906, Keystone Canyon
was being hailed as the portal to
Alaska’s interior. Through it, sur-
veyors had staked out a right-
of-way for a railroad that would
link Valdez, just 14 miles away,
with Fairbanks. Other rails would

-carry freight as far as Circle on
the Yukon River and haul copper
ore to tidewater from the new
fields in the Copper River region.

During the next three decades,
four copper mines would extract
more than $200 million in ores
from those fields lying in the
shadows of the Wrangell Moun-
tains fewer than 150 miles from
the sea. Owners of the field
included the Guggenheim
brothers, J.P. Morgan and other
New York financiers organized as
the Alaska Syndicate. In Valdez
in 1906, they were being hailed
as the men who were building the
Copper River & Northwestern Rail-
way through Keystone Canyon.

To those in Valdez that
summer, the recurrent dynamite
explosions at the Canyon, long a
favorite spot for picnics and
outings, were considered
pleasant overtures to the train
whistles just around the bend.
The townsfolk were ill-prepared
for the jarring note that was to set
the stage for violence.

Acting on recommendations
of railroad-building engineer,
Thomas Heney, the Alaska Syn-
dicate announced it was with-
drawing from Keystone Canyon.

ie

Me en sll _P —— —

“.. , the Guggenheim brothers, J.P. Morgan < _were... hailed as the men building the Copper River & Northwestern. . ne

Locomotive blows whistle leaving Valdez for the first time, August 4, 1907

The railroad to the Interior would
be built not from Valdez, but from
Katalla, about a hundred miles to
the southeast on the Gulf of
Alaska.

Heney once said, “give me
enough snoose and dynamite
and |'ll build you a railroad to
hell.” Now he had convinced the
Alaska Syndicate he could build
one to their copper holdings over
a route more profitable, but, on
appearance, just about as
damned. In 1898, Heney had
built the railroad that clawed its
way over the White Pass from
Skagway to the Klondike gate-
way community of Whitehorse.
That cachet, coupled with the
fact that the Katalla route would
tap some potentially rich coal
deposits, doomed Valdez.

eney would need more
fT than snoose and dyna-

mite to win his Katalla
gamble. His biggest challenge
was to be the Copper River,
which would have to be bridged
virtually mid-point between two
vast glaciers, the Miles and the
Childs. Bridge builders would
face 40 below temperatures and
winds up to 90 miles an hour.
Cassions would be threatened by
huge icebergs dropped by Miles
Glacier, only a half-mile up-
stream. (Later, these challenges
paled when it was determined
that falsework for the final 400-
foot steel span would have to be
built on the ice — and completed
before the spring breakup!)

In Valdez, feelings against the
Alaska Syndicate ran hot and
deep over the Katalla project.
The change in plans created an
ideal climate for the Cultivation of

the indignant and the gullible.
Within a few days, a flamboyant
Valdez copper developer, H.D.
Reynolds, began the harvest.

eynolds chartered a
[bo steamer, took the town’s

businessmen ona cruise,
then called a mass meeting.
When it was over, the town had
pledged Reynolds $100,000 as
seed money for a start on the
Alaska Home Railway, to be built
and operated by the people of
Valdez, with Reynolds in the cab,
of course.

Valdez further responded by
giving Reynolds a franchise that
gave him control of most of the
town (which the promoter had
promised to rebuild into a sort of
sub-Arctic Athens) and turned
over to hima church. Reynolds,
who knew a bit about God and
mammon, promptly converted it
into a bank, causing the few
cynics remaining to dub his op-
eration, “Jesus & Co.”

By the summer of 1907, the
Alaska Home roadbed was
inching toward the only barrier
lying between Valdez and the
riches of the Interior — Keystone
Canyon, held by a score of
CR&NW workmen and two
deputy U.S. marshals.

The showdown came during
the early morning hours of Sep-
tember 25, 1907. Urged on by
their attorneys, who argued that
the CR&NW right-of-way claims
were Invalid, some 200 Alaska
Home Railway workmen headed
for Keystone Canyon, paced by
their foreman, mounted on a
horse. None was armed, but all
had been issued picks, shovels
and axes.

ay,

J. P. Morgan

“., . Deputy Marshal
Edward C. Hasey

shouted a warning to
the approaching mob.

lt was ignored...”

i

ear the canyon’s enda
Ni barricade barred further

passage. Behind it as-
sembled about 30 CR&NW
workmen. Deputy Marshal Ed-
ward C. Hasey shouted a warn-
ing to the approaching mob. It
was ignored. He stepped forward
with a rifle and fired. When the
firing from behind the barricade
ceased, five Alaska Home Rail-
way men were wounded. One,
Fred Rhinehardt, died later in a
Valdez hospital and became a
cause celebre in Alaska and
Washington, D.C.

A Valdez grand jury indicted
Hasey on murder charges. In
April 1908 his trial opened in
Juneau. It was one marked by
charges , many of them later
substantiated, of jury tamper-
ing and manipulation of wit-
nesses. Hasey was found

not guilty of murder. But he
was convicted of assault
with a deadly weapon,

and sentenced to two
years in prison. Ina

subsequent appeal,
which was denied, he
was to argue that
, others should have
been prosecuted in-
stead of myself.”

ERIZKOGUE Mine
Shootout at Keystone
Canyon had little ef-
fect on the collapse
that same year of the
Alaska Home Railway

“... He stepped forward
with a rifle and fired...”

wee

First and only locomotiv

| at
th

Extent of the Alaska Home Railway's rails

e of the Alaska Home Railway

and the later conviction of
Reynolds on mail-fraud charges.
But the incident was to echo for
years throughout Alaska and in
Washington, where anti-
monopoly feelings ran high.

Like those in Valdez, the 5,000
hopefuls drawn to Katalla (Where
the Rails Meet the Sails) were
jilted. Following winter storms
that ripped out breakwaters and
a pier, the CR&NW moved its
railhead again, this time to
Cordova, 75 miles to the
northwest.

Heney never lived to see the
winning of his Cordova gamble.
He would have loved it,
particularly when the last steel
links of the 1,500-foot Copper
River bridge were joined just
hours before the spring ice
breakup ripped out the
temporary supports. The first
CR&NW train into the copper
mines at Kennicott in 1911 carried
on the locomotive’s front a picture
of Heney, the “Irish Prince,” who
had died the previous winter. The
CR&NW was to go no further than
Kennicott and ceased operations
in 1938 when the mines closed
for good.

The entire drama, from the
Shootout at Keystone Canyon to
the completion of the 198-mile
Copper River & Northwestern
Railroad can be found in the
novel of Rex Beach, The /ron
Trai!. But it reads equally well as
non-fiction,

Jim Faber is a Seattle writer who has
traveled widely.in Alaska. His book, An
Irreverent Guide to Washitigton State/s
now in its second printing.

Ted Leonhardt, who created the
illustration, is a Seattle designer and
illustrator who serves Alyeska Reports as
designer and art director.

10

Keystone
Canyon
Construction

By Mark Godwin

Shootouts in Keystone Canyon
(page 8) are a matter of history.
But events there continue to
make news with construction of
the trans Alaska pipeline.

Mark Godwin is an Alaska
free-lance writer.

The trans Alaska pipeline, all
along its 800-mile route, crosses
many obstacles, both natural
and man-made. The frigid North
Slope, the imposing Brooks
Range, the migration paths of
the caribou, the Yukon River,
highways and tundra all stand
between Prudhoe Bay oil and

its destination of Valdez.

But one of the most
challenging sections of the
pipeline route — indeed,
perhaps the most difficult four
miles of the project — is not
above the Arctic Circle nor high
inthe Brooks Range but a scant
18 miles from the Valdez Terminal
in Keystone Canyon.

Keystone Canyon is as
picturesque a piece of Alaska as
can be found anywhere. The
roiling waters of the Lowe River
flow through the center of it.
Sheer cliffs of rock rise on both
sides into the low clouds, while
green trees and shrubs cling
precariously to the steep slopes.

Numerous waterfalls, including
famous Bridal Veil Falls, tumble
over the edge of the canyon and
plunge through the clouds. The
historic wagon trail that used to
lead out of Valdez can still be
seen from the highway on the
other side of the river.

Where miners and home-
steaders once trudged
laboriously with their life’s
possessions, now rumble the
trucks and heavy equipment
being used to build the pipeline.
But it’s a toss-up as to who had
it tougher, the miners and
homesteaders of old or the
engineers of today.

The ghosts of Alaska’s
pioneers must have chuckled
when the pipeliners came up
against Keystone. Imagine their
glee at the thought of hundreds
of men and millions of dollars in
equipment being stymied by the
same terrain that they once
crossed with such difficulty on
foot and in buckboards.

But like those pioneers, the
engineers of Alyeska and its
contractor Morrison, Knudsen-
River did not give up.

Pooling their hundreds of years
of pipeline construction experi-
ence, they launched a battle
that covered two full construction
seasons. Modifying office plans
in the field and standard
equipment in construction camp
shops, they worked a total of ten
months, using nearly 200 people
a day, finally finishing most of
the job in September.

The pipeline rests now high
atop the east wall of the canyon.
To have built it in the bottom
would have required digging up
the existing highway, requiring
lengthy road closures and great
public inconvenience. The
danger of rock and snow slides
prevented anchoring the line to
the side of the canyon walls.

The battle to build the canyon
section began in the late spring
and early summer of 1975 when
Jack C. Cave, Alyeska senior
construction engineer, arrived
with orders to clear a right-of-way
in the canyon.

Cave, a burly, craggy-faced
construction veteran who had

been working on a huge port
expansion project in Seoul,
Korea, arrived in Alaska
expecting to work on the tanker
terminal in Valdez but instead
was handed the Keystone
Canyon job as a welcoming
present.

Cave and MK-R site manager, |
Jack Owens, got the crews down |
to business immediately. Men
and machines attacked the
canyon from both ends, north
and south. Since the two ends, or
faces, are the steepest points in
the canyon, work went slowly.
Tracked vehicles were the only
machines that could negotiate
the slopes, and everything
needed at the top to start with
had to be pulled there by huge
Cats or dozers.

Indeed, one section of the
north face, which appears to go
nearly straight up, was named
“Walking Tom’ in honor of a
foreman who supposedly told his
men: “Boys, if you want to get up
there, you're going to have to
walk, just like old Tom.”

Work, however, progressed
steadily until the middle of July,
1975, when crews reached a
seeming bottleneck at a place
named Gobbler’s Knob. Huge,
overhanging rocks made it
unsafe for drillers to work, and
unless the drillers could
complete their work, nobody
else could follow. Getting
equipment above the cut was
imperative.

A decision was reached to
launch an airlift so that crews
could work above the rock. And
what followed was one of the

1) Work proceeds 1) Winch helps
on mountainside, machinery on slope,
2) Helicopter hauls 2) Equipment gets

assist from winch atop
Site 3, 3) Rock cut atop
canyon, 4) Pipe
lowered into ground,
5) Work at Site 3.

supplies, 3) Pipe
lengths joined on
mountain, 4) Workers
unload pipe on steep
slope.

E CHAMPIONINIC. Machinery Co

E CHAMPIONINIG Machinery Co.

5
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z
2
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ox
6
w

most dramatic chapters in the
history of the pipeline.

Small helicopters first ferried
work crews to several points
along the top of the canyon to
clear patches of land. After the
land was cleared, a huge
Sikorsky Skycrane, capable of
lifting payloads weighing tons,
was called in to hoist heavy
equipment to the work sites.

One after another, tractors,
truck drills and compressors,and
dozers were flown up and over
the canyon. Smaller machines
were lifted whole by the brute
choppers, while the big ones
were disassembled, the parts
lifted, then reassembled on top.

For days, the whir of the
Sikorsky’s blades echoed off the
canyon walls. No sooner would a
helicopter set a piece of
equipment down than it would lift
off again for another load.

The airlift broke the bottleneck.
Keystone work could now be
attacked from eight places
instead of two, and by the end of
the 1975 season most of the
necessary basic construction
work had been completed.

When the winter snows came,
some 300 inches of it, the work
was Called to a halt. However, in
May of this year, the effort began
again with Don Hand as MK-R
site manager. Additional roads
were built. Massive amounts of
rock were moved while new
techniques were developed for
moving pipe up the steep canyon
slopes.

Permission was received for

construction of a new switchback
road up the north face. Men and
machines cleared the last of the
snow, built the road and started
work preparing a ditch for the
pipe.

The trip up and down the
canyon still was so tortuous that it
was cheaper to build a rock
crushing plant at the top of the
canyon than to truck gravel back
and forth. The crusher processed
40,000 yards of material before it
was through.

The steepness of the
approaches also caused crews
to pre-tape pipe at the bottom
of the canyon so that the cum-
bersome taping machines
wouldn't be forced to make the
harrowing journey up and down.

At a place called Site 3 witha
60 per cent grade drillers and
blasters had to carve a huge
notch out of rock in order to lay
the pipe. About 120,000 yards of
more than a half-million yards of
rock moved in the entire canyon
were blasted out at that spot.

To keep waterfalls and streams
clear during construction
numerous Catch basins were
built to contain the silt and allow it
to settle before the water plunged
down the cliffs into the view of
tourists below.

Gating pipe up the north face
also proved difficult. Choppers
could not safely lift 80-foot
sections of pipe; pipe trucks
couldn't negotiate the slopes,
and dozers and tractors couldn't.
drag the pipe up hill without
damage.

E. CHAMPIONIN G Machinery Co

The solution to the problem,
when it was finally found, looked
like something out of a Ray
Bradbury book of science fiction.

Roland Cain, below-ground
construction superintendent for
Alyeska, and Guy Owens,
assistant superintendent for
Morrison, Knudsen-River,
dreamed it up and Don Mackey,
MK-R master mechanic at Sheep
Creek Camp, put it together.

Developed was a bulldozer
with the blade taken off the front
and the ripper removed from the
back. Crossbars and cradles
were installed in their place.
Eighty-foot sections of pipe were
then lowered onto each side of
the dozer, placed in the cradles,
and strapped in, parallel to the
dozer. The dozer, assisted by
another, then slowly clanked its
way up the switchback road. At
every sharp corner the operator
had to hydraulically raise and
lower the sections as they hung
out over the edge of the canyon,
turning in spurts, going first
forward, then backward, then
forward again as 80-foot pipe
bobbed over shrubs and rocks
on the narrow road.

Nearly half an hour after they
began their journey, the two
dozers reached the top of the
canyon. Workers and foremen
congratulated one another.
Cameras clicked. Hands
were shaken.

One week later all the pipe
was up the north face. The pipe
gang arrived and by the end of
September construction on
Keystone Canyon was history.

Clean-up crews then went to

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11

work on the switchback roads,
putting them “to sleep”, which in
construction parlance means
restoring them to their natural
appearance. Next year tourists
will drive up Keystone Canyon,
marvel at its beauty, take pictures
of Bridal Veil Falls, and never
realize that they are surrounded
on one side by the spirit of Alaska
past in the old wagon trail, and on
the other by the spirit of Alaska
present in what may be the
hardest four miles of construction
on the trans Alaska pipeline
route.

[. all, Keystone Canyon contains
23,000 feet of pipe. In one
2,500-foot section on the north
face, the pipe rises 840 feet. In
only 2,300 feet on the south face,
it drops 820 feet. In between, the
pipe goes up and down like an
elevator, through a path once
blocked by some of the most
difficult rock anywhere.

“Journalists keep asking me
about this so-called ‘critical
section’ of the pipeline,” said
Cain on the day the first piece
of pipe went up the north face.
His eyes twinkled with
accomplishment.

“Hell, there ain’t nothin’ critical
unless it can’t be done.”

And because of men like Cain
and Cave and the other 198 or
so workers who could be found
there on any given day for ten
months, Keystone Canyon wasn't
critical at all.

lt was being completed. And
all in good time.

12

Alyeska’s
Earthquake
Monitoring
System

By John Scott

John Scott is editor of
Petroleum Engineer, a trade
journal devoted to oil
developments.

O.. of the most significant

of Alyeska Pipeline Service
Company's engineering and
scientific achievements may be
development of the earthquake
monitoring system which will be
used once the line goes into
operation.

The special system will
continuously monitor any
earthquake activity along the
route and provide virtually
instantaneous notification and
analysis of the seismic motion to
a master station at the Valdez
Terminal.

Not that Alyeska is expecting
any pipeline earthquake
damage. The earthquake design
criteria for the trans Alaska
pipeline system approach those
for nuclear power plants and
exceed building code
requirements for public
structures.

The 800-mile pipeline route
has been divided into five
seismic zones and an
earthquake design level has
been established for each zone.
The design magnitudes range
from a mild quake of 5.5 on the
Richter scale in the zone on the
North Slope to extremely severe
quakes of 8 to 8.5 on the Richter
scale in the Alaska Range and
near the Valdez Terminal of the
pipeline. All pipeline facilities
within each zone are designed to
withstand the maximum
expected quake — one with a
likelinood of occurrence
estimated to be once in two- or
three-hundred years.

The monitoring system was
conceived by Dr. Douglas J.
Nyman, Alyeska seismic
engineer, and design
engineering was completed by
Nyman, several other Alyeska
engineers and consultants from
the University of Illinois.

The system consists of
a computer-oriented, com-
munications surveillance
package of strong-motion
accelerographs located along
the pipeline route from Pump
Station No. 1 south to Valdez.
Overall, the system resembles
the computer production-control
systems now being used by
major oil companies for remote
operation of fields in many
sections of the Lower 48 states.

Unlike the seismograph which
records small ground motions
due to earthquakes thousands of
miles distant, a strong-motion
accelerograph measures only
the strong motion in its immediate
area. While the seismograph
presents its information in a form
difficult to assess in terms of
design and construction
considerations, the
accelerograph, recording only
motions that probably would be
noticeable to a person nearby,
provides information that can be

utilized by the design engineer.

The strong-motion instru-
mentation used in the Alyeska
system is composed of an
acceleration sensor unit anda
modular electronics panel about
two feet square and five feet
high. The modular assemblies,
packaged by Sundstrand Data
Control, Inc., will allow greatly
simplified maintenance.

Three sensors in the system
will provide the acceleration
information. Two horizontal
sensors, oriented 90 degrees to
each other, will register motion on
that plane. The third will measure
vertical motion. The sensor
assemblies will be mounted on
protected concrete foundations
on bedrock or otherwise stable
soil. Signals from them will be fed
into the electronics panel at each
remote location. Eleven such
units will be set up at selected
sites along the 800-mile pipeline
route.

The accelerometer provides
its Signal as an analog, or
measurable voltage, reading.
These voltage signals are
interpreted electronically 200
times each second, and
converted to a numerical
value suitable for computer
processing. A microprocessor, or
microcomputer, evaluates this
data continuously to determine if
the motions have exceeded a
certain threshold level, indicating
that an earthquake has occurred.
Once an earthquake has been
detected, the data is channelled
toa magnetic cartridge tape and
recorded for the duration of the
event. The tape data can be
retrieved manually for later
scientific analysis.

Diz an earthquake, the
microprocessor evaluates
earthquake data to describe the
earthquake severity in
engineering terms. Using the raw
acceleration information, system
computers analyze the energy
content of the earthquake in
terms of velocities, accelerations
and structural response levels
and weigh the likely impact of the
quake on the pipeline system in
the affected area.

Thus, when the Alyeska
monitoring system senses an
earthquake along the pipeline
route, it immediately will send
alarm signals to the Valdez
Operations Control Center over
the pipeline communications
system. Once the earthquake is
over the terminal computer at
Valdez will automatically poll
each of the station instruments
for the data recorded. About 30
to 40 seconds will be required to
transmit the approximately 40
pieces of data from each
instrument, depending on how
much information each
instrument has to send. Auxiliary
information describing system

gee A ee

Input

Ground
Motion

Se

Accelerometer Assembly

Remote Field Analog to
Installation of Digital
Accelerometer f Converter

ys i Assembly

Data Processing
e Compute Peak
Acceleration
e Compute Peak

Velocity

e Determine Structural
Response Levels

e RecordAcceleration |

Time History on
Magnetic Tape

Acceleration
Data

Velocity
Data

Structural
Response
Data

Valdez
Terminal
Computer

‘ourlesy of Sundstrand Data Control Corp:

fault status will also be sent as a
check of the integrity of the
instrument itself.

The data will be stored ina
terminal computer master data
file. And after all of it has been
collected, a second program will
be run on the terminal computer
to confirm there was an
earthquake, determine how
severe it was and fix the
approximate location of the
epicenter.

The system will then estimate
levels of shaking that occurred at
each station along the line. And
within minutes after the event,
Alyeska should have enough
information to decide quickly
(1) whether a shutdown is
necessary and (2) where to go to
inspect the line and what types of
damages to look for. It will not
give definitive yes or no answers
about whether conditions are
safe, however. These are
decisions to be made by Alyeska
operations personnel using the
data from the monitoring and
other control systems.

The major point is that Alyeska
will be collecting the best
available data along the route to
describe severity of a particular
earthquake enabling operators to
decide whether to shutdown the
pipeline and how to go about
inspection. Otherwise, the
pipeline might be shutdown
needlessly because of relatively
minor earthquake activity.

Mace are two independent
communication routes to each
instrument. If there is a break ina
microwave communication path
due to the earthquake, data can
be collected via satellite. If the
terminal computer at Valdez
breaks down there will be a
back-up keyboard and printer
available to poll each instrument
manually for data. Each
instrument also has a memory for
storing key parameters
processed for ten earthquake
events should a major shock be
followed by numerous
after-shocks within an hour or
two. The tape units have the
capacity for recording one hour
of earthquake data.

Since the earthquake
monitoring instruments are in
remote locations and exposed
to extreme environmental
conditions during long inactive
periods, steps have been taken
to assure their operation when
needed. This is accomplished
through a built-in, self-check
capability. Once commanded to
check itself out, the instrument
exercises its accelerometer
along each axis independently
and the motions are recorded
and processed and all of the
alarms and data are transmitted
to Valdez just as though there
were a real earthquake. Periodic
exercises of this type will verify

13

the system's ability to function
properly in an actual earthquake.

Avyeska believes it has
achieved its basic objectives with
the monitoring system.

Earthquake activity along
the route can be detected
immediately so that appropriate
action can be taken, including
shutting down the pipeline if
necessary.

The system will provide data to
justify a decision not to shut down
if the earthquake motion is not
severe. And the system will make
it possible for Alyeska to continue
pumping valuable crude to
Valdez following an earthquake,
knowing that the pipeline system
has not been subjected to
motions approaching design
limits.

14

Progress
Report

___ JIM GOCCIA

SAM AKIN

Jui August and September
were the busiest months of the
1976 pipeline construction year,
as work on pipeline, pump station
and Terminal facilities passed the
80 per cent completion mark,
and a peak work force between
20,000 and 22,000 was
sustained for most of the duration
of the quarter. Indications were
that the worker level would begin
tapering off in October.

Nearly 700 miles of the 800-
mile pipeline were in place by
early September, with pipe
installation continuing toward
completion in the fall. With the
exception of remedial and repair
work, all pipeline welding was
nearly finished.

About half of the line has been
hydrotested. In hydrotesting, the
line Is filled with water and the
water pressure increased to at
least 125 per cent of the
maximum operating pressure for
a 24 hour period. Maximum
operating pressure may vary
from place to place depending
on such factors as proximity to
pump stations, elevation and
ground topography.

A major milestone passed
in July was completion of the

installation of vertical supports,
although some remedial work
remained. Nearly 78,000 support
members have been installed to
support 425 miles of above
ground pipe.

Insulation for the above-
ground portion of the line was
more than three-quarters
complete by late September, and
the majority of 120,000 thermal
devices required in certain
portions of the pipeline route
were installed. Thermal devices
are installed deep into the
ground through the top of vertical
support members. These units
circulate liquid ammonia through
natural convection and insure
the stability of pipeline support
structures by keeping soils and
sub-soils in a permanently frozen
condition.

Resoiution of engineering
problems allowed work in three
areas Critical to the pipeline
construction schedule. These
areas were Keystone Canyon
and Thompson Pass near Valdez,
and Atigun Pass in the Brooks
Range far to the north.

The more than four miles of

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24. Way

<

STEVE McCUTCHEON:

right-of-way preparation and
ditching required to cross
rugged Keystone Canyon,
approximately 16 miles north of
Valdez was finished in
September. Welding of pipe was
completed in this area by the end
of September, with ditch
backfilling and hydrotesting to be
accomplished later this fall.

Approximately one mile of
critical work through the 2,100-
foot high Thompson Pass was
concluded. Right-of-way clearing
was finished in August, ditching
and welding was to be
completed in October and
backfilling and hydrotesting were
scheduled to be finished soon
after.

Ditching on the north side
of 4,700-feet high Atigun
Pass began in mid-July. Work
commenced in early August on
2Va2 miles on the south side of the
pass.

All of the 12 major pipeline
bridges required at larger rivers
and scheduled to be built this
year were finished. Among those
completed was the 1,200-foot
free-span suspension bridge
across the Tanana River, the
largest suspension bridge in

14
HE

300-foot high boiler stack hoisted at Valdez

“oe SE ay)

wes co
Pipe gets insulation

Alaska and second longest
bridge in the state.

Nearly all of the 62 remote
gate valves required for pipeline
Operation were installed by
September. To operate the valves
from the Valdez Control Center,
microwave signals will be sent
first to pump stations. Orders will
then be transmitted from pump
Stations to valves via VHF radio
Signals. The valves will be used
to stop oil flow in the event of a
malfunction at any point along
the line. Installation of generation
units to power the valves was
underway at many sites.

W... progressed rapidly at

all pump stations during the
Summer, with overall construction
passing the three-quarter mark
in September.

Installation of pumps, turbines,
mainline corridors, ancillary
buildings, fuel lines, piping and
tankage was essentially finished
at pump stations 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10
by late September. Along with
Station 5, equipped with a large
relief tank and one fuel tank,
these stations will be needed for
the initial operating level of

CIHHAH Hid
"aes vu» we
teas PTT TT

600,000 barrels of crude oil
per day.

At stations 6, 9 and 12, which
will be brought into operation for
the 1.2 million barrel-per-day
operating level, significant
progress was made on the
erection of buildings, interior
partitions, installation of electrical
conduit, heat-medium piping,
pipe supports, fuel lines, mainline
corridors and tank construction.
Hydro-testing of crude oil and
turbine fuel tanks was essentially
completed at nearly all stations
by September, with mainline pipe
hydrotesting continuing at
several stations in the fall.

Pass-through stations 2, 7
and 11 were expected to be
completed by mid-October.
These stations will become
pumping stations when
operations are expanded to
the 2-million-barrel-a-day
operating level.

Aithough random material
shortages at the Valdez Terminal
affected work sequencing, and
limited bed space for workers
was a problem, work on various
facilities advanced quickly

during the long summer
daylight hours.

Piping, structures and
buildings for the impound basin
in the ballast water treatment
area were finished in August.
Hydrotesting of outside piping
and tanks was completed in
September. Insulation on outside
lines and other measures to
prevent freezing were also
installed.

At the power generation and
vapor recovery area, work in July
was concentrated on earthwork,
concrete pours, equipment
installation, piping emplacement
and steel erection. Knock-out
drums and scrubbers were
installed in August, and
incinerator piping was complete
in September. Critically needed
sections of prefabricated pipe
were received at the Terminal
in August.

At the East Tank Farm, all but
one of fourteen 510,000-barrel
capacity crude-oil storage tanks
have been hydrotested. Twelve
of these tanks at the East Farm
will be required for the 600,000-
barrel-per-day operating level.

Internal components and door
plates were installed on tanks 15,

15

Pipe mounted on Yukon River bridge (above) Valve lifted into place (below)

17, 16 and 18, at the West Farm
in September. Tanks 15 and 17
were also hydrotested during
this month. Work began on
underground oil, water and
sewer lines to the Ballast
Treatment Plant separation units.
The upper reinforced earth wall
was finished in September, and
activity began on the west
fire-water pumphouse.

The Operations Control Center
building was completed, with
the exception of computer
and communication system
installation. The administration
and maintenance buildings were
also finished.

Work continued on berths 1, 4
and 5. By September, installation
of marine structures, piping,
electrical and control equipment
was completed at Berth 4. At
Berth 5, roadway concrete,
turn-around and loading dock
were finished.

STEVE McCUTCHEON

a
nw

October 1976 Vol.2 No.5

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
1835 South Bragaw
Anchorage, AK 99504

E. L. Patton, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. W. J. Darch, President

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
has.committed itself to keeping the
public informed about its progress in
the design, construction and,
eventually, operation, of the trans
Alaska pipeline.

To help meet this commitment,
Alyeska has undertaken the
quarterly publication of this
magazine, Alyeska Reports. Your
comments and suggestions are
welcome.

Alyeska Reports is published
quarterly and is produced by the
Public Affairs Department, Robert
L. Miller, manager.

©Alyeska Pipeline Service Company,
1976. For permission to reprint or
reproduce any portion of the
magazine, please write to Editor,
Alyeska Reports, 1835 South Bragaw,
Anchorage, AK 99504

Alyeska pipeline

ERVICE COMPANY

Waiver request based on results of British tests

Alyeska’s request to the federal
government to exempt from repairs a number
of field girth welds does not mean that
Alyeska asked the government to approve a
defective pipeline.

Quite the contrary. The strength and
integrity of the trans Alaska pipeline will in no
way be impaired.

Special destructive tests, involving welds
like those for which exemptions are asked,
have demonstrated that the minor
irregularities found in such welds do not
require repairs. The tests revealed that the
small irregularities are “completely
innocuous” and that questioned welds are
able to withstand levels of stress far beyond
the maximum for which the pipeline was
designed.

The welds included in the exemption
request were either buried in permafrost, in
flood plains of rivers or under rivers where
repairs would be extremely difficult. All
involve only those irregularities, as revealed
by actual X rays, which the tests
demonstrated will not jeopardize the integrity
of the welds or the safety of the line.

Alyeska originally had planned to ask for
exemptions on only 11 such welds. The
Department of Transportation, however,
asked the firm to make application for all
exemptions which might be sought. Alyeska,

thereupon, filed requests on 612 welds
containing minor irregularities, not in strict
compliance with federal regulations, but
which the tests proved to be harmless.

Repair of the welds continues as the
company awaits Federal response to the
waiver request, and as of September 26,
Alyeska had repaired all but 320 of the 612
welds in question. Waiver requests are being
withdrawn for each weld repaired.

Alyeska based its request on fracture
mechanics studies carried out by the British
Welding Institute of London and the Cranfield
Institute of Technology in Cranfield,
Bedfordshire, England. The testing
organizations conducted about 900 tests on
specimens cut from actual trans Alaska
pipeline welds to arrive at their conclusions.
Representatives of the Department of Interior
and Transportation observed the tests.

Alyeska initiated the British testing program
after a 1975 Alyeska audit of welds revealed
3,955 irregularities of all kinds. More than 90
per cent of those already have been
corrected.

Despite the workload imposed by the weld
and radiographic resolution program,
Alyeska expects to complete the project as
planned by mid-1977.

At Prudhoe Bay, drilling and
construction work moved into its final
phases as oil companies prepared
to deliver 1.2 million barrels of oil
daily to the trans Alaska pipeline
from 9.6 billion barrel field in
mid-1977.

Special earthquake monitoring
equipment is being installed at
pump stations along the 800-mile
pipeline route to provide Alyeska
with almost instant notification and
analysis of any seismic action along
the 800-mile route.

Waivers are being sought on some
buried pipeline welds in which
radiographs revealed minor
irregularities. Extensive tests by
British laboratories demonstrated
that such irregularities are
“completely innocuous” and verified
the integrity of the welds.

Between 20,000 and 22,000
workers were employed on the
pipeline this summer as 700 miles of
the 800-mile line were put in place.
More than half of the line has already
been hydrotested with water at 125
per cent of the maximum operating
pressure.

Contractors battled some of the
roughest terrain on the entire
pipeline route to complete a tough
four-mile section of pipeline in
historic Keystone Canyon. Crews
called on a huge helicopter and built
special pipe-hauling tractors to help
finish the job.

Bering Sea

Arctic Ocean

Gulf of Alaska

Legend
Pipeline .......... —
Pump Stations ......... 3

dhoe Bay Oil Field