Delta Airlines Flying High on Bakken Oil

Don sends the link; KXNET is reporting:

The next time you travel with Delta Airlines, you'll might be flying high on Bakken oil.
That's because Delta just received it's first shipment of Bakken crude at its refinery in Pennsylvania.

Delta purchased the refinery last year to get control of its fuel costs.

Now that North Dakota oil is being transported, not just in pipelines, but by rail, Bakken crude is helping release the tether that binds east coast refineries to overseas crude.

In fact, rail transport is opening up the entire U.S. to Bakken crude.

Justin Kringstad, Director, ND Pipeline Authority: "Within the continental U.S., yes, we can reach, essentially, all corners of the U.S. And it's really exciting, again, those new markets that are opening up for North Dakota production, so the rail has worked out very well."

Refineries are configured to run certain types of crude -- and Bakken crude is an especially good fit for east coast facilities. 

The most important data point in that story: "Refineries are configured to run certain types of crude...."

And that's the whole point of the current poll asking whether the policy decision to kill Keystone XL 1.0 is the single most important reason for the soaring price of gasoline? The price of gasoline is now at all-time highs for this time of year, and has risen 32 days in a row. No links; easily found.

The Gulf Coast refineries configured to run heavy oil are paying $120/bbl for Venezuela oil. Canadian oil sands oil, with the same CO2 profile of Venezuela oil, is selling at $60/bbl.

And KXNET is noting that. Refineries are configured to process different types of crude oil.