Mammoth prefab modules speed Alaskan oil
Modularization on a scale never before attempted was achieved in a project so mammoth in terms of materials, equipment and people that its only rival in size is the TransAlaska Pipeline itself. Built to serve that pipeline the oil and gas production facilities at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay are notable, too, for the fact that they were completed ahead of time and within budget. Principal elements of the project are manifolds and well test facilities at 10 drill sites; three oil and gas separation centers producing a total of 600,000 barrels per day of dewatered, degasified crude for transport via the pipeline and 1.76 billion ft/sup 3/ per day of oil-associated gas; a central compression plant to reinject this gas (plus that of adjacent leases) into the formation for storage pending construction of a gas pipeline; and a field fuel gas plant to serve the complex and four of the crude oil pumping stations. Included in the project was the construction of two bridges; approximately 19 mi of oil and gas gathering, fuel gas and injection gas pipelines; camps for up to 2,600 people, and maintenance shops and warehouses (winterized for shelter against snow and temperatures as low as -50 to -60 degrees F. All major elements were designed for prefabrication in the lower 48 states (mostly the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash. area) as interlocking modules to be transported by barges to Prudhoe Bay. Modules at the site were installed some 40 ft apart and parallel to one another atop piles which were sunken 20 to 30 ft deep into the arctic tundra and anchored with a sand and water slurry that freezes concrete-hard. Barge shipments of the prefab modules took place in 1975 and 1976. About nine barges are set to carry the 30 large modules, 19 connecting buildings, and tons of cargo and piping.
- OSTI ID:
- 6983815
- Journal Information:
- Civ. Eng. (N.Y.); (United States), Journal Name: Civ. Eng. (N.Y.); (United States) Vol. 48:7; ISSN CIEGA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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