Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. has plans of starting its Trans Alaska Pipeline today after repairing of the line that carries eleven percent of American crude production took longer than scheduled.

The operator has intentions of resuming flows through the line "early" local time Jan. 17, as per one situation report by the Unified Command in Fairbanks, Alaska, which was formed for addressing the leak and includes the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Alyeska.

The shutdown was supposed to last in the tune of thirty six hours but draining and sealing of the piping took more time than expected as stated the report. The closure was originally scheduled to get over around noon local time on Jan. 16 after workers spent as many as thirty six hours installing a bypass around a leak on the pipe, as stated by the company.

A leak found on Jan. 8 closed the pipeline. It was started Jan. 11 for the time being to help prevent ice and wax deposition inside the pipe. The weight hundred mile or one thousand two hundred and eighty seven kilometer line carries oil from Prudhoe Bay south to Valdez, where the oil gets loaded on tankers that in turn go to refineries in Alaska and on the U. S. West Coast.

Exxon Mobil Corp, BP Plc and ConocoPhillips were compelled to suspend ninety five percent of production from the North Slope area, hiking up crude prices. The pipe transported an average of six hundred and forty one thousand five hundred and seventeen barrels per day in the month of December, as stated by the Alaska Department of Revenue website.

Oil inventories in Alaska were seen at 1.47 million barrels of crude till 13, Jan from the most recent data available, down from 2.45 million seen on Jan. 12, as per the state's Web site.