Nice Update on Crude-by-Rail Facilities in North Dakota -- Avoid Keystone -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Shipping oil on the BNSF Railway main line is racing toward becoming a major piece of the boom action, with three rail loadout facilities under development in Fryburg, Dickinson and Zap.

One, near Fryburg, is a project of Great Northern Power Development, which is known locally for its work to develop a coal mine and power plant a few miles away at South Heart.

The company wants 270 acres rezoned one mile east of Fryburg on the railroad mainline for trucking and potentially piping oil to load onto 110-car unit trains that can be loaded up and moved out within 12 hours.

The application describes three 100,000 barrel storage tanks, enough to load a unit train in 12 hours and facilities to unload three tanker trucks at a time. One unit train requires about 300 tanker truck hauls.

So, we are getting some new info here: 300 truck hauls to fill a 110-car unit train.

Note the comment about the Keystone XL:

The Keystone project is coming under heavy environmental criticism and BakkenLink developers told the North Dakota Public Service Commission last month they’ll build to a Fryburg rail loadout instead of to a planned Keystone hookup at Baker, Montana.

The Fryburg project, with construction of additional track loop, is estimated at $40 million and will provide 25 fulltime jobs, according to the application documents.

Also, update about Dickinson CBR facility:

The project will have 210,000 barrels of storage and a truck center with six bays and room for expansion and eventually be able to put through 250,000 barrels a day.

Comment: if the Keystone XL dies, it can be blamed on a thousand small things, but they all add up. I still remember the non-support of certain state governors.