The Alyeska consortium refers to the major oil companies that own and operate the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of ...

(TAPS) through the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

History

The Alaska corporation commonly known as Alyeska Pipeline Company was founded in 1970 to design, construct, operate and maintain a pipeline to transport oil from the fields on the North Slope of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

where oil was discovered in 1968 to an ice-free deep-water port in

Valdez, Alaska Valdez ( ; Alutiiq: ) is a city in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to the 2020 US Census, the population of the city is 3,985, up from 3,976 in 2010. It is the third most populated city in Alaska's Unorganized Borou ...

. The pipeline was built between March 1975 and June 1977, running from the North Slope fields at

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people, up from just five residents in the 2000 census; however, at any give ...

to the Marine Terminal at Valdez on

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound (Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Tr ...

. Alyeska then went on to operate and maintain TAPS. The first oil flowed into the pipeline on June 20, 1977, and the first tanker load departed from Valdez on August 1, 1977. ''Totem Marine Tug & Barge, Inc. v. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'' was argued before the

Alaska Supreme Court The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court for the U.S. state of Alaska. Its decisions are binding on all other Alaska state courts, and the only court its decisions may be appealed to is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Alas ...

in 1978. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was partially responsible for helping to respond to the ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill. However, Alyeska Pipeline was unprepared for the events, and consequently slow to respond with cleanup crews and equipment.Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell. (2014). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases (10 edition). Stamford, CT, USA: South-Western College Pub. (p. 425-426) Additionally, shortly before the ''Exxon Valdez'' spill, Alyeska had persuaded the Coast Guard that some safety equipment was not necessary on tankers---equipment that may have reduced the scale of the ''Exxon Valdez'' disaster. September 2017 Alyeska had another spill due to a mix up of piping by long time employees, and dispensed anywhere from 9.5 to 38 barrels of product into the narrows of Valdez. In 2016, Alyeska was ranked as an 8-way tie for 19th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights in the Arctic. In 2019, it was announced that BP would be selling its shares in Alyeska to Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Company

Organization

The major owner of the company is Hilcorp with 46.93% of the shares dating from the acquisition of BP. The other group members are ConocoPhillips Transportation (shares formerly owned by ARCO and acquired by Phillips during its acquisition of ARCO Alaska as part of the settlement between BP and the FTC) (28.29%),

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

(20.34%), Koch Alaska Pipeline Company (3.08%), and

Unocal Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

(1.36%). The government responsibility in regulating TAPS is managed through the

Joint Pipeline Office A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...

JPO), a consortium of thirteen federal and state agencies under the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

. The corporation is named after an

Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...

word meaning "mainland". It is headquartered in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

and has around 900 employees. The thirty-year TAPS State and Federal land leases were due to expire in 2004. The State Lease was renewed for another thirty years on November 26, 2002, and a matching Federal Record of Decision for Right-of-Way was signed on January 8, 2003.

References

External links

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company website
{{Authority control Trans-Alaska Pipeline System Oil companies of the United States Oil pipeline companies Companies based in Anchorage, Alaska Energy companies established in 1970 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1970 1970 establishments in Alaska ARCO Former BP subsidiaries