Alyeska Pipeline responds to crude release at Valdez terminal

Sept. 25, 2017
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is responding to a release of crude oil onto water at the west end of the Valdez Marine Terminal near Berth 5. Crews reported a sheen on the water at around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, and secured the source of the spill.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is responding to a release of crude oil onto water at the west end of the Valdez Marine Terminal near Berth 5. Crews reported a sheen on the water at around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, and secured the source of the spill.

Teams have boomed the area where the sheen was visible, according to Alyeska, and have been carrying out spill response and recovery operations, including skimming. More than 23,000 ft of boom were deployed with more than 25 vessels participating in the response. No tankers were docked at the berth when the spill was discovered.

Alyeska’s initial estimates put the release volume at less than 100 gal. On Saturday night, Sept. 23, incident commander Scott Hicks noted that “the cause of the spill, piping that released an oily water mix, makes it very difficult to give a precise estimate of the amount spilled. But any crude oil in the water is too much, and we will bring all necessary resources and expertise to the response.”

Response is focused on the area north and northwest of the Valdez terminal, around Berths 4 and 5. No areas of concentrated oil have been observed on the water and all sheens were within containment, Alyeska said, crews having recovered about 400 gal of the oily water mix. Wildlife specialists have not observed any affected wildlife.

An incident investigation to determine the root cause of the spill is ongoing.

The next tanker is not scheduled to arrive at the Valdez terminal until early next week. Terminal inventory is at 26% and Alyeska does not expect the response to affect North Slope production.