-BAHASA INGGRIS

The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the

Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward across the largest

and northernmost state in the United States, ending at

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a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from

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where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely

complicated to operate.

The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless

miles of delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It

weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer

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mountains, plunges over rocky crags, makes its way

through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds

of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and

up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude

oil can be pumped through it daily.

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Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents," long

sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high

above the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of

sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the

surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-

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down route is determined by the often harsh demands

of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of

the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or

permafrost (permanently frozen ground). A little more

than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground.

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The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet,

depending largely upon the type of terrain and the

properties of the soil.

One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost

approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest

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and most expensive construction project ever

undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single

business could raise that much money, so eight major oil

companies formed a consortium in order to share

the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to

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particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid

into the pipeline-construction fund according to the

size of its holdings. Today, despite enormous

problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment

breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous

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terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and

even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed

and is operating.