One day in 1968 Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil and Refining (now Exxon) discovered approximately 10 billion barrels of recoverable reserves buried beneath the frigid waters of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. Now the question arose how in the world do we transport this oil from here to someplace we can use it? The answer, an 800-mile long 48-inch diameter pipeline of course. So these two companies combined with British Petroleum Company devise

Approximately 75% of the line passes through permafrost terrain. The line goes through the continuous zone on the North Slope and through the Brooks Range; and then it encounters the discontinuous and sporadic zones and passes through areas of no permafrost in the immediate vicinity of Valdez. The permafrost causes three different types of problems. Frost heaving, when the active layer freezes, ice form, pushing the ground surface upward. Frost jacking, when the aforementioned heaving occurs any structure that is not properly anchored will be forced upward along with the ground surface. Thaw settlement, structures on that unstable permafrost may settle if the large amounts of ice are melted. Melting is usually caused by heat or changes to the natural thermal changes. In order to deal with the permafrost situation engineers had to be creative when designing the pipeline. There are three principal design modes.

Below ground pipeline: Where either unfrozen or thaw-stable permafrost were encountered the pipeline was buried.

This project was an enormous undertaking that has been likened to a modern day Great Wall of China or Egyptian Pyramid. The challenges that were faced; such as environmental concerns, the rights of Indigenous people, money, topography, were all met head on and resolved, with a little help from OPEC. This paper is really just a tiny overview of everything it takes to make this pipeline work. The whole system is a carefully orchestrated dance.

Some topics in this essay:
Authorization Act, Brooks Range, North Slope, Recommendations Due, Alyeska Website, Monitoring System, Donnelly Dome, Response Plan, System TAPS, Prudhoe Bay, pipeline system, trans alaska pipeline, alaska pipeline, north slope, alyeska website, trans alaska, pump stations, oil spill, ft lateral, pipeline crosses, ft vertical, alaska pipeline system, below 32 degrees, courtesy alyeska website, below ground pipeline,