Alyeska Announces Slowdown on Strategic Reconfiguration

Alyeska Announces Slowdown on Strategic Reconfiguration
By Lee RevisEditor, Valdez Star
VMT- With little fanfare or notice, Alyeska President and CEO David Wight announced that some phases of the planned automation and restructuring of the Valdez Marine Terminal, what the company calls "Strategic Reconfiguration", are being put on the back burner and changes still on the forefront will be moving ahead at a slower pace than original planning called for.
"We're moving forward with some projects," said Alyeska Spokesman Mike Heatwole, citing office consolidations and the water source for firefighting as examples what issues are still on the frontline. "It's going to be more incremental," he said.
Heatwole also said the company is making purposeful moves to switch from salt water, its current water supply for fire suppression, to a manmade fresh water reservoir to be located inside the terminal and that the company is actively studying the engineering of the project. He also said the company is looking at the various functions and capabilities in the numerous offices and they are taking a very close look at what functions can be consolidated over the next several months. "There's lots of offices throughout the terminal," says Heatwole, who added that there may be "corresponding staff reductions" after studies are complete on which office functions can be combined.
Issues surrounding the removal of crude oil storage tanks, retrofitting remaining tanks with floating roofs and vapor control are now under long term evaluation according to Heatwole. Plans for hooking up the terminal to the Copper Valley Electrical Association's power grid are also on hold. "The information we've gotten required further study," he said.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company employs roughly 300 people directly at the Valdez Marine Terminal and approximately 200 more through subcontractors says Heatwole. System wide, the company directly employs around 900 across the state, not including contractors.
Heatwole stressed that the goal of Alyeska remains the same, a less complex system without compromising safety.
In its heyday, the pipeline pumped over two million barrels of crude oil a day from the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay to the receiving terminal in Valdez. Production on the slope has slowed considerably in the last few years to about half that, according to company literature.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which is responsible for running the Valdez Marine Terminal, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the remaining pump stations, is owned by the oil producers who hold leases on the crude oil wells on the North Slope. BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon are the top producers operating in Alaska.