One of the ironic things about the Dalton Highway is that you spend alot of money on fuel, (note the English variant agnostic vocab), fuel that gets more expensive the closer you get to the oil rigs.
Then you can't actually get to the coast. You have to stop 10 miles short. But those generous souls in the oil industry then charge only $50 to drive you the last 10 miles in a bus through the industrial complex to the Bay itself. Before I set off from Fairbanks I had provoked the comment from another traveller, "Are you really going to pay big oil for that last bit of road".
To be fair, I did find trip interesting. Driving through the complex we were given lots of insights into its workings and the life of the gas worker. It seems most are on a 2 week on 2 week off schedule, and noone hangs around for the 'off' bit. They're flown straight to Fairbanks.
I guess I wouldn't stick around in these cabins either...
Even though we could only see part of the complex it was impressive in size.
This is one of the drilling rigs they used to use...
The driver/guide pointed it out more as an example of the biggest tire you will ever see. Massive.
Once they've drilled the well a head is put on it...
Not so big. The landscape seems like it dotted with lots of loos. Admittedly large ones.
The oil or gas goes from the well heads into these large plants, which don't seem to do much processing but direct the stuff towards the pipeline. All the three major companies up there pump their output to the same pipeline. They didn't say how they tell which is which when it comes out 800 miles away weeks later in Valdez. (Yes of Exxon Valdez fame.)
They are clearly concerned about safety...
And don't like spills...
They're even keen on promoting the environment...
All very interesting.
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