The trans-
Alaska pipeline system (TAPS) was finished in 1977, taking 3
years to complete. TAPS cost nearly 8
billion dollars to complete and runs from
Prudhoe Bay, AK to
Valdez, AK.
The pipeline, as
Alaskans call it, has a length of almost 800
miles and pumps 47,000
gallons of
crude oil per month. The oil is
heated to nearly 80 degrees (F) and travels at six miles per
hour. The pipeline is elevated in some places to protect the
permafrost, and has specially designed
baffles that vent waste heat into the
air instead of into the ground. Where permafrost is not an issue, the pipe is buried up to 16
feet deep.
Alaska is
earthquake-prone, and the
engineers of the pipeline accounted for that by laying the pipe in a
zig-
zag pattern and specially constructed
spars that allow both lateral and vertical movement. The pipeline is constructed to withstand up to a 7.5 earthquake on the
Richter Scale.
At any given time, TAPS contains almost 9 million
barrels of oil. Of the 13 billion barrels (which is almost 550 billion gallons) of crude oil that have traveled that 48 inch pipe over 3 mountain ranges, 600
streams and
rivers, 3 active geological
fault lines and nine
pumping stations, less than 200 barrels have been spilled.
TAPS is managed by the
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and was paid for by a consortium of oil companies, including
BP,
Exxon,
Phillips,
Unical and
Mobil.