Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Alaskan pipeline upgrade ordered Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 17:26:45 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Alaskan pipeline upgrade ordered \BY REUTERS \DT ANCHORAGE, Alaska ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Two federal agencies and Alaska ordered the trans-Alaska pipeline operator Friday to improve its procedures for preventing corrosion along the 800-mile line, officials said. The order came after a two-year government study of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s corrosion control by an oversight panel established in 1989 with representatives from five federal and state agencies. In a 63-page report, the panel, the Joint Pipeline Office, criticized Alyeska for allowing electromagnetic corrosion, a byproduct of metal pipe buried in damp soil, to continue unabated for years. The report said that within three months, Alyeska must draw up a schedule describing how it will prevent corrosion. Within 15 months, Alyeska must provide new monitoring data and proof that it has upgraded its pipeline maintenance, the report said. Eleven years after oil began flowing through the pipeline in 1977, a special instrument known as a pig detected enough corrosion to warrant replacement of 8.5 miles of pipeline and installation of about 70 repair sleeves, the report said. Had Alyeska properly monitored the corrosion, it could have halted the deterioration eating away at the pipeline, it said. "The extent of corrosion discovered in the 1988 and 1989 pig runs indicated that the corrosion protection system was not providing adequate protection to the pipeline," the report said. Friday's report was the second piece of bad news for Alyeska this week. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it may fine Alyeska $10,000 to $25,000 for allowing oil pressure within the pipeline to build past allowable levels in August. A valve 10 miles east of Fairbanks closed Aug. 7, causing a 2 1/2 hour shutdown of the pipeline, the department said. The trans-Alaska pipeline delivers about 1.7 million to 1.8 million barrels of crude oil a day, one-fourth the nation's domestic oil supply. Alyeska is a consortium of seven oil companies. The dominant owners are British Petroleum, Atlantic Richfield and Exxon. Mobil, Unocal, Phillips and Amerada Hess own minor shares of the consortium. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM