OIL – needed in enormous quantities by both the industrial as well as the rapidly developing third-world countries, it is a commodity that significantly influences the economy of many major governments. For this reason, when Atlantic Richfield and Humble Oil (now Exxon) announced the presence of oil in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968, the largest oil field in North America and the eighteenth largest in the world, the U.S. Government took notice. Extracting the oil from the frozen and pristine wilderness would be a major engineering feat, but transporting it to the refineries was another matter of serious concern. Following a number of surveys the only reasonable and cost-effective means for transporting the crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to the closest seaport was determined to be by pipeline.

Building The Pipeline

Consequently, in 1973 President Richard Nixon approved the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline which was built and is managed by a consortium of seven oil companies holding exploration rights under the name Alyeska Pipeline Service. These companies include BP (47%), ConocoPhillips (28%), and Exxon Mobil (20%). Taking 3 years to complete, the 48-inch diameter pipeline was open for business in 1977.

800 Miles Of Steel

The long steel pipeline zigzags across the frozen tundra for 800 miles. It stretches from Prudhoe Bay, on Alaska’s North Slope, to the northernmost ice-free port at Valdez, Alaska, on Prince William Sound. Along the way, it must travel over three mountain ranges, cross more than 500 rivers and streams, over three unstable earthquakes faults, and through the migration paths of the caribou and moose.

Designed To Withstand Earthquakes

The pipeline was purposely built in a zigzag configuration to allow the pipe to move more easily from side to side and lengthwise in cases of earthquakes or temperature-related fluctuations. The effectiveness of this design was proven in 2002 when the pipeline survived a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Where it runs over fault lines, the pipeline rests on perpendicular so-called “slider supports”, long rails which will allow the pipeline to slide with the ground movement. Four hundred and twenty miles of the pipeline was built above ground because of the unstable soil conditions from the thaw sensitive permafrost and 380 miles below ground. To keep the oil flowing, there are eleven pumping stations along the length of the pipeline, each containing four pumps. Of these 44 pumps, however, only around 28 are operating at any one time.