[Alaska_geo]

Mother nature strikes again. The Dalton Highway, aka the "Haul Road" has been closed by epic flooding. From what I have heard, the operators has shut in parts of Prudhoe Bay as a precaution, since some of the pads are currently inaccessible by road.Likewise, rigs drilling in the field have been shut down and crews evacuated as a precaution.

See: 'Epic' flooding on Dalton Highway hinders North Slope oil operations Do check out the photos.

Note that parts of the field are temporarily cut off every spring for a short time when rivers flood during break up. The operators plan around that. This is a very different thing however. To my knowledge flooding on this scale has never happened before, at least during the 47 years since Prudhoe was discovered.

[GoghGoner]

Wonder if this won't hinder things. Alaska showed a 111kbd drop in this week's EIA report.

Fairbanks, Alaska, to Start Weekend Warmer Than Phoenix

Fairbanks is set to shatter the day's record high of 80 F from 2002 and will approach its all-time May record high of 90 F from May 28, 1947. A high in the lower to middle 60s is more common.

[Alaska_geo]

Wonder if this won't hinder things. Alaska showed a 111kbd drop in this week's EIA ...

It for sure won't help. Note however that N Slope production always drops in the summer. Mostly that's because Prudhoe makes a lot gas, which is reinjected into the reservoir. Compressors run more efficiently in winter temperatures than in summer, so gas handling capacity drops in summer, hence production drops. A lot of facility maintenance happens in summer as well.

[PeakOiler]

Those are some impressive pictures! Yikes! I wonder how long it will take to repair the highway?

I'll be posting another chart of N. Slope Oil production in the "Declining Production In Alaska" thread when the EIA releases the next month's data in about a week. Of course the decreased oil production numbers for May won't be available until August.

[Ibon]

Landed in Fairbanks and drove to Prudhoe Bay back in 2004 with a birdwatching buddy of mine. A memorable trip. With all this flooding I am just imaging the mosquitoes later this summer.

[GoghGoner]

I haven't made it past Denali State Park but that highway has always captured my imagination.

TAPS is really going to be in bad condition if the flow rates stay down. Hope they have enough pigs up there to get it cleaned out as it gums up.

Repairs begin on flooded sections of Dalton

The news release said culverts were being installed near 314 Mile to help with the flow of waters back into the main channel of the Sagavanirktok River. Crews are starting to excavate, haul and stockpile materials near 335 Mile for rebuilding washed out portions of the highway.

The highway from 335.5 Mile to 413 Mile remains closed and there is currently no estimate for when the road will be reopened.

Rising temperatures on the North Slope last week caused water and ice melt from the Sagavanirktok, Kuparuk and Colville rivers to flood over the Dalton Highway, closing nearly 80 miles of the highway.

[GoghGoner]

If you assume the arctic is going to keep getting warmer (a probable outcome), roads may not be a feasible option...

Repairs underway on flood-damaged Dalton Highway

Bailey said flooding exposed permafrost under the original roadbed between mileposts 412 and 414, so a new route will have to be created.

Alaska recorded its hottest temperature so early in the season Memorial Day weekend

[vox_mundi]

JUNEAU, Alaska, June 5 (Reuters) - Alaska's lone road to North Slope oil field operations in Deadhorse has re-opened after emergency crews repaired or replaced sections of a road taken out by massive flooding, state officials said on Friday.

Some of the hardest hit sections of the Dalton Highway remain "in rough condition," and drivers will need assistance from flaggers and a pilot car for a two-mile (3.2-km) stretch, state officials said.

This brings an end to a third closure in two months, but state and contract personnel will work through the summer to fortify repairs with a price tag of about $15.5 million.

The state will spend another $27 million to elevate some of the hardest hit sections, about a 17-mile north end stretch.

Causes for the closures date to heavy rains last summer that underwent extensive freezing over the winter with sheets of ice trapping water and causing springtime floods.

Crews made up of state and contract workers had earlier designed a trench system that drained water away from the road and into another waterway. But a rapid spring thaw driven by unseasonably high temperatures created additional flooding, prompting another closure.

"It was water as far as the eye could see," Coffey said. "People need to remember this is in the Arctic, so you are a long way from anything: equipment, getting pipe or getting anything else you're going to need."

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL ... 5?irpc=932