EGEE 101
Energy and the Environment

Crude Oil Transportation

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We move crude oil and the finished products (gasoline for example) via a variety of methods: pipeline, tanker, and the multi-wheeled big (trucking) rigs. We are concerned that the transportation be performed safely, and without spillage.

Trans-alaskan pipeline. The pipes are unning above ground through a field
The Trans-Alaskan pipeline stands on stilts to avoid damaging the permafrost (the oil inside the pipeline is hot-which is how it comes out of the ground) and to allow wildlife safe passage.
Credit: NA

By far the best method of transporting a fluid is by a pipeline. Some of these pipelines are very long, such as the 800-mile Trans-Alaskan pipeline, which carries 17% of the domestic production of crude oil. These pipelines are expensive, however, a cost of $8 billion at 1977 rates! The pipeline is cleaned periodically with "pigs" (which are mechanical devices that can travel inside the pipe to remove any wax buildup from the inside of the wall - other pigs check for corrosion etc.) Perhaps we will build a new pipeline (go and take a quick look at this project: Keystone) to bring an improved (upgraded) tar sand obtained crude oil from Canada all the way to Texas.

Keeping these pipelines functioning properly is no small feat.

Pipeline Audio - Click for text description. This will expand to provide more information.
Dr. Mathews: A very significant concern of having the Tran-Alaskan pipeline is preventing leaks. Alaska is just a very beautiful state and there is a great deal of wildlife there; and of course oil is detrimental to wildlife. Some of the leaks, however, are very hard to avoid. A particular case in early 2002 when a local inhabitant of the area was sitting on his back porch, of course drinking, taking pop shots at the pipe. Put about five or six holes into the Trans-Alaskan pipeline causing a great deal of spillage. Things like this are hard to prevent against. It would be awful difficult to protect 700, 800 miles of pipeline. And so this also factors into security risks. It would be very easy to bomb this section of the pipeline. Preventing the movement of oil, a significant amount of crude oil, from getting from Alaska to Valdez.
 Graphical map of Alaska with the pipeline shown going vertically down the center of the state.
Pipelines are an efficient method of transporting oil over land but for sea crossings, oil tankers are still the method preferred although there are some underwater pipelines.
Credit: ANL

Unfortunately, the pipeline ends in Valdez (because it is a relatively deep port, good for tankers, and is free of ice most of the year). Thus, to get the Alaskan crude oil from the state of Alaska to the markets in the rest of the United States requires tankers to carry the fuel the ocean leg of the journey. Generally, this is to the refinery operations on the West Coast (we in the North East get our crude oil from exotic locations such a Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, etc but also from even more exotic locations such as Warren, or Oil City, etc. in Pennsylvania! In 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil. This was the worst spill in US history; it resulted in legislation that addressed the transportation of crude oil into US territorial waters (more on the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, later in the lecture).

  A tanker and workers beneath it (they look like ants next to an SUV).
Following the Exxon Valdez spill tankers operating in US waters need to be double hulled. Notice the workers at the bottom of the tanker.
Credit: CONOCO

The US produces a great quantity of crude oil (but it provides only about 55 % of our needs). Our production is only exceeded by that of Russia and Saudi Arabia (normally we are 2nd). Much of it arrives in the country via tanker. Those tankers operating in US territorial waters now need to be double hulled (by 2015) as a strategy to reduce large oil spills. Remember these tankers can be huge.

There are only a few travel "lanes" for the international trade of crude oil. Much of the transportation is via tanker or via pipelines (The World is not Enough-James Bond Movie, splendid). This has major security implications for the safe delivery of a very valuable commodity. The map below shows the important oil flow bottlenecks.

World map showing the crude oil flow and specific bottle points.
World Crude Oil Flows 2013.
Credit: EIA

It is not just transportation of crude oil, or its products, but storage also. We produce (extract) a lot of oil, and we also store a lot of oil and crude oil products. Safety is a concern around all the flammable liquids. Spills inland can be just a devastating as those affecting the coastline. Regulations also require that the retaining walls, which surround the tank, are sufficient to retain the liquid in the event of a failure.

 A crude oil storage facility.  There are large brown tanks all over the hillside.
A tank farm holding the raw crude oil or finished products.
Credit: EIA
Crude oil tank "sunken" into the depression created by and the retaining wall to prevent spills.
More tanks.
Credit: EPA

What you don't see in the image is that the tanks are in a very large depression in the ground (a bit like an empty swimming pool). Should the tanks break, the oil would be retained in the "swimming pool" by the retaining walls.

Oil products have also been leaking into the ground from the storage of gasoline at gasoline stations. Recall the MTBE issues. When you buy a house one of the things the homeowners have to reveal is if there is a storage tank on the property. It is not good news if there is one, as often they need to be removed. You also accept liability if it does leak at a later date.

Road crashes also leak crude oil products like gasoline. The fire trucks carry long buoyant absorbent socks (similar to booms) to prevent gasoline and diesel spills from further contaminating the waterways.

The influence of any spill on the surrounding wildlife depends on the nature and the size of the spill, as well as the ability of the wildlife to avoid the area. Gasoline, for example, will eventually evaporate; diesel and most of the other fuel oils, however, will not evaporate completely.

 Oil truck which is being pulled out of a ditch by a crain.
An oil spill from a road tanker.
Credit: WA