Trans-Alaska pipeline leaking
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From: Birmingham, Alabama
Trans-Alaska pipeline leaking
Saw a blip on the news this morning that the pipeline was leaking. They didn't have any info on where, how much or when it would be repaired. The only thing they said was oil was going up because of it.
Alaskan pipeline leak propels oil higher
By Sheila McNulty in Houston and Gregory Meyer in New York
Published: January 10 2011 19:03 | Last updated: January 10 2011 19:03
Oil prices rose after a leak in a key Alaskan pipeline forced the shutdown of most of the production from North America’s biggest crude oilfield.
Analysts warned the market impact could increase if the outage continued for more than a few days on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which carries oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to the warm-water port of Valdez. A tougher regulatory stance following the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico could prolong the closure, they said.
“There is far greater scrutiny by regulators before restarting pipelines after unplanned outages,’’ potentially adding a week to the process of restarting the pipeline, said Lawrence Eagles, oil analyst at JPMorgan in New York.
Analysts said if the pipeline problems persisted, US West Coast refineries would be forced to seek out more barrels from South America, Russia and the Middle East, lifting prices at these origins relative to benchmark US West Texas Intermediate, which is far less exposed to global oil flows. As such, the gains of benchmarks such as Brent and Oman outpaced those of WTI on Monday.
In late afternoon trading in London, ICE February Brent jumped $2.07 to $95.38 a barrel. In Dubai, DME March Oman rose $2.27 to $93.59 a barrel. Meanwhile in New York, Nymex February WTI rose $1.25 to $89.28 a barrel. Paul Tossetti, at consultants PFC Energy, said Alaska supplied US west coast refineries with around a quarter of their daily intake. “A 25 per cent hit is not insignificant. But it can be worked around.’’
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates the pipeline, said inventories at tanks in the port city of Valdez would help to offset the outage. Tesoro, which processes some 550,000 barrels a day at five refineries on the US West Coast, said it had two supertankers loading this week with oil already stored at Valdez.
“Over the short term Tesoro expects to be minimally impacted,” it said.
Although the leak appears small, resulting in only about 10 barrels of spilled oil inside a pumping station, the pipeline is encased in cement and must be excavated before it is repaired. Alyeska is looking at a variety of options to restart the pipeline, including developing a plan to bypass the affected piping.
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f7d899b2-1...#axzz1AfWrk5gQ
By Sheila McNulty in Houston and Gregory Meyer in New York
Published: January 10 2011 19:03 | Last updated: January 10 2011 19:03
Oil prices rose after a leak in a key Alaskan pipeline forced the shutdown of most of the production from North America’s biggest crude oilfield.
Analysts warned the market impact could increase if the outage continued for more than a few days on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which carries oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to the warm-water port of Valdez. A tougher regulatory stance following the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico could prolong the closure, they said.
“There is far greater scrutiny by regulators before restarting pipelines after unplanned outages,’’ potentially adding a week to the process of restarting the pipeline, said Lawrence Eagles, oil analyst at JPMorgan in New York.
Analysts said if the pipeline problems persisted, US West Coast refineries would be forced to seek out more barrels from South America, Russia and the Middle East, lifting prices at these origins relative to benchmark US West Texas Intermediate, which is far less exposed to global oil flows. As such, the gains of benchmarks such as Brent and Oman outpaced those of WTI on Monday.
In late afternoon trading in London, ICE February Brent jumped $2.07 to $95.38 a barrel. In Dubai, DME March Oman rose $2.27 to $93.59 a barrel. Meanwhile in New York, Nymex February WTI rose $1.25 to $89.28 a barrel. Paul Tossetti, at consultants PFC Energy, said Alaska supplied US west coast refineries with around a quarter of their daily intake. “A 25 per cent hit is not insignificant. But it can be worked around.’’
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates the pipeline, said inventories at tanks in the port city of Valdez would help to offset the outage. Tesoro, which processes some 550,000 barrels a day at five refineries on the US West Coast, said it had two supertankers loading this week with oil already stored at Valdez.
“Over the short term Tesoro expects to be minimally impacted,” it said.
Although the leak appears small, resulting in only about 10 barrels of spilled oil inside a pumping station, the pipeline is encased in cement and must be excavated before it is repaired. Alyeska is looking at a variety of options to restart the pipeline, including developing a plan to bypass the affected piping.
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f7d899b2-1...#axzz1AfWrk5gQ
Advocate of getting the ban button used on him...
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From: Live Oak Texas
Here we go again!!! Any time there is a drip of oil the price will go up. Every time the news "Says" it will go up, sure enough it is going to. I think the media is worse than the speculators of a few years ago.
Any time there is a drip of oil the price will go up. Every time the news "Says" it will go up, sure enough it is going to. I think the media is worse than the speculators of a few years ago.
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From: Delta Jct Alaska
It’s up at pump 1....supposedly its in an concrete encased area...If that is the case they will have to by pass till they can repair the section that leaks...A little bit about the PL...it is incased in insulation, some is sprayed on an some is strips of foam glued on, then it has a metal external shell...So what happens is the oil seeps between the layer of insulation an inner wall. Don’t believe the articles about the smartpigs, they haven’t run one for years...We have been so lucky where the leaks have happened so for....But I am afraid we will have a very nasty spill in the future if something doesn’t change...I have never seen any section replaced in 15 yrs. since I’ve been here and people have told me the entire stretch is original...An I am referring to the main line.
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From: Delta Jct Alaska
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From: Myrtle Creek Oregon
ya I had to dispatch one of our drivers to go get another load off the pipeline that we pull from because diesel price was going up 5 cents by end of day. Thats only $500.00 for a truck & trailer load but when you bid a load to a customer & he is locked into that price there goes any profit you made on that load.
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