Unocal Corp. has temporarily suspended tanker lifting of crude oil from Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co.'s Drift River, Alas., terminal because of precautions taken in response to continuing eruptions from Redoubt Volcano.

Unocal also shut in about 9,000 b/d of oil production from its three Cook Inlet platforms until operations at the terminal return to normal.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) issued guidelines that allowed Cook Inlet Pipe Line to store only about 50,000 bbl of oil at the 2 million bbl capacity terminal as a precaution against volcano induced flooding that could damage stock tanks and spill oil into Cook Inlet.

As a result, Unocal said, any ship transporting 400,000 bbl of oil would have to make eight trips, taking 12 days instead of the usual 24 hr. The suspension does not affect delivery of natural gas to Anchorage or Unocal's ammonia and urea plants at Kenai.

Cook Inlet Pipe Line, meanwhile, is moving to comply with ADEC and Coast Guard orders to remove tank bottoms and enhance protection of the storage tanks. Work to modify and strengthen dikes around the terminal are to be completed within 90 days, with the terminal returning to normal operations.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.

UNOCAL HALTS DRIFT RIVER LIFTING

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