Alaska Pipeline Origin, Alaska

The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline starts at Pump Station 1, in Prudhoe Bay. The pipeline was completed in 1977 at a cost of $8 billion. It is 48" in diameter and 800 miles long, connecting the entirety of the output of the oil fields of the North Slope to the port at Valdez, and thus ultimately to the marketplace. The peak flow capacity of the pipe is around two million barrels per day, although throughput has diminished dramatically since the peak production days of the 1980's. With an estimated 13 billion barrels of recoverable crude (over 80% of which has now been extracted), the oilfields of the North Slope remain the largest conventional (i.e. non-shale fromation) fields in North America. Deadhorse is the town supporting the oil fields.