Human Interest: Crude By Rail

Link to The Dickinson Press.

Because of the lack of pipeline alternatives to move oil to refineries, when the North Dakota Oil Patch began to explode a few years ago, energy companies turned to moving much of their crude by railway.

One of the largest railroad transportation companies in the U.S., BNSF Railway has stepped to the plate as the Oil Patch has played a key role in the country’s push toward energy independence.

And then more:

“BNSF has been hauling Bakken crude out of the Williston Basin area for over five years,” BNSF executive Dave Garin said earlier this year. “In that time, we have seen the volume increase nearly 7,000 percent, from 1.3 million barrels in 2008 to 88.9 million barrels in 2012. We see this trend continuing.”

BNSF is connected to 16 of the top 19 oil-producing counties in central and western North Dakota, but petroleum isn’t the only resource being shipped via railroad, ....

“For 2012, we will invest an estimated $86 million on maintenance and rail capacity improvement projects in North Dakota,” McBeth said. “BNSF hauls more than 40 percent of Bakken production. In addition to oil, BNSF hauls inbound materials needed for each new well, such as sand and pipe.”