Trans Alaska Pipeline History

In 1968, the discovery well was drilled which proved Prudhoe Bay to be the largest oil field in the U.S. with an estimated 10 billion barrels of recoverable reserves. On September 10, 1969 the state conducted a North Slope lease sale and earned more than $900 million in bonus monies.

It was determined to move the oil to market through a nearly 800-mile long pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez where it would be pumped aboard tankers. Environmental studies for the pipeline were started in 1968 and permits applied for.

Several Native villages filed a lawsuit claiming the pipeline would cross their land. The land ownership question was settled with Congressional passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and its signature into law by President Richard Nixon in December 1971.

The building permit for the pipeline was issued in 1974, and construction began on March 27, 1975. During peak construction, 20,000 were employed on what was called the largest privately financed construction project in history. It cost $8 billion, including the Valdez terminal, before it was completed in 1977. The first tanker carrying North Slope crude oil left the Valdez terminal on August 1, 1977.

The pipeline is 48 inches in diameter and varies between 0.462 and 0.562 inches thick. About 1.15million barrels of oil move through the pipeline each day. The oil moves at about 5.5 miles per hour and requires just under six days to travel from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. If full, the pipeline would hold over 9 million barrels of oil.

For more information, visit the Alyeska Pipeline Web Site.