Alyeska Column

By Alyeska Corporate Communications

Alyeska’s Traveling Health and Safety Fair spent four days in the Prince William Sound communities of Tatitlek and Chenega Bay in early June, marking the 21st year of the annual event. Eight health care providers from across Alaska, nine UAA pharmacy students and faculty, and a pair of Alyeska employees joined the crew of Edison Chouest Offshore’s utility tug Ross Chouest, which transported the contingent on its five-day journey from Valdez to Tatitlek to Chenega Bay and back.

The group facilitated two full-day schedules of events each in Tatitlek and Chenega Bay. Both stops included a free health fair available for all residents, where they could receive basic biometric screenings and information on nutrition, healthy relationships, tobacco prevention, active lifestyles, and more. Throughout both days there were also hearing, vision, and development checkups for the community’s kids and classroom sessions about mental health and wellness, first aid and handwashing, positive communication, and healthy food choices.

Each morning, health fair contributors ate breakfast with local youth at their schools. There were also special men’s breakfasts, women’s teas, and community dinners that packed each school’s respective gymnasium, offering tasty and healthy menus that were headlined by Cajun-style shrimp and corn soup created by ECO Chef Chad Cavalier.

Local leaders and high school students also had the opportunity to tour the Ross Chouest, which provides a variety of services around the Prince William Sound area. Captain Carlos Alemany and his enthusiastic crew led visitors around the unique vessel’s deck, into its engine room, and other areas.

Even rare moments of downtime were filled with opportunities for health fair participants to encourage healthy lifestyles by playing basketball or jumping rope with local youth and assist in community projects like sewing tribal regalia, organizing donated library books, and prepping healthy snacks for school kids.

“The Prince William Sound Traveling Health Fair is the culmination of months of careful planning and preparation by Alyeska staff, contractors, and community partners,” explained Kate Dugan, Alyeska’s Valdez Communications Manager. “It was special to make the trip for the first time with Edison Chouest Offshore and the terrific crew aboard the Ross Chouest. The event is always an adventure and this year was no exception.”

Alyeska completes inspection of buried piping on the Valdez Marine Terminal

2018 marked the third and final year of the buried crude piping inspection project at the Valdez Marine Terminal, or VMT, culminating in the inspection of the 48-inch crude line “A” and “B” headers. This final stretch accounted for more than a mile of piping that carries oil across the terminal, from the East Metering building, up to the tank farm and down to West Metering. Until recent advances in technology, the piping was considered “uninspectable” and had not been internally inspected since construction.

“This critical project required focus, hard work, and cooperation across several teams around TAPS,” said Scott Hicks, Senior Director of VMT Operations. “It was not only important to know the pipe is in good shape, but that we also made a significant investment in future inspections, so the VMT can continue safe operations into the future.”

Over the last two project seasons, personnel had inspected piping under the East Metering building, the relief piping from East Metering to the East Tank Farm, and crude piping from West Metering to the end of berths 4 and 5 with smaller crawler pig tools. They also prepared the facility for inspections with the larger in-line inspection pig by taking out short 90 degree bends in the piping and valves too narrow to let the tool through, and reinforced the foundation of the area where pig launchers and receivers were installed this summer.

Things kicked off in earnest during the June 36-hour pipeline shutdown. The facility was a hive of activity while alternating oil movements between headers from East Metering through the relief piping and tanks and then to storage tanks. This allowed crews to cut pipes and install new valves and pig launchers and receivers at East Meters and West Meters, respectively.

With the required infrastructure in place, personnel routed 19 pigs through A and B Headers over a 33-day window in July and August. The project team had to work with oil movements and operations to coordinate the pigging around shipping windows.

To ensure the piping was free from wax, 15 cleaning pigs were routed through the headers. After the cleaning pigs, crews sent two 48-inch tools through each header. One measured metal loss and wall thickness; the other could detect dents and other deformities in the pipe.

The data received from the tools indicates the pipe is in good condition, and the system returned to service. There were no injuries or spills during the course of the project.

Photo and information courtesy of Alyeska Corporate Communications.

I appreciate the opportunity to share with you some of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s perspectives as we continue work to keep the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, or TAPS, economically and technically durable for Alaska’s future, able to safely transport oil that remains a foundation of Alaska’s economy. One major investment we’re making for the future is substantially upgrading the fleet that supports tanker movements and emergency response for Prince William Sound. As transition to our new marine services contractor continues, momentum is building – six modern tugs and barges have already launched, and two tugs completed sea trials in January. We will all see significant activity this spring as vessels and crews begin arriving in the Sound.

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