

The Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline just north of the Brooks Range. The 800 mile long oil pipeline transports the crude oil from the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The oil pipeline is now about 32 years old, its design life is said to be 26 years. It is holding up well but major service and improvements are needed in the years to come.
The 800 mile long trans Alaska oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to the Port of Valdez. The oil pipeline is operated by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
In the 1980’s at the peak oil flows, a barrel of oil made the trip from prudhoe Bay to Valdez in four days. Today it takes 13 days. The slower flow causes the crude oil temperature to cool faster. At some point, the crude oil temperture will dip below the freezing point of water un-less the oilis reheated inside the oil pipeline.
With lower crude oil temperture, ice and wax may start to coat the inside of the oil pipeline.
The oil pipeline has transported more than 15 billion barrels of crude oil.
The peak oil flow was roughly 2,100,000 barrels per day through the pipeline. Today the oil pipeline transport about 700,000 barrels of North Slope crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. daily. With new design upgrades, the pipeline should be able to transport as littel as 300,000 barrels of oil per day.