Southern Alaska Earthquake Threatens Oil Exports
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Alaska early Friday, shutting the state’s most important oil pipeline and potentially threatening crude exports.
The temblor struck 13 kilometers north of Anchorage. The Alaska pipeline that carries crude from the Arctic coast to the marine terminal in Valdez was shut as a precaution, Michelle Egan, spokeswoman for Alyeska, said by phone. Egan said she wasn’t aware of any damage to the line, which transported 530,000 barrels on Thursday, but said there isn’t yet a timeline on restart.
Alaska Air Group Inc. said it temporarily suspended operations at the Anchorage airport following the quake. “We understand there’s considerable damage being reported” at the airport, the company said in a statement. There was one oil tanker at the Anchorage port, the Pacific Beryl, which was delivering jet fuel from South Korea to ports in Alaska.
Alaska produced 494,000 barrels of oil a day last year, with most of it sent down the Alaska pipeline to Valdez, where it’s shipped out by tanker, usually to U.S. West Coast refineries. No tankers were at the terminal when the quake struck and “everything is fine down there,” Egan said. A few smaller vessels were moved away from the shoreline.
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