Bakken Oil To Port of Vancouver USA

Updates

Later, 7;38 pm: This post explains why they need to ship Bakken oil to California in ocean-going tankers rather than railing it there directly.  This will come into play if there's a oil-tanker event spilling oil into the Pacific Ocean.

 

Original Post

A reader sent me this story overnight, thank you. The reader who sent me the story below noted that Bakken oil would be railed to Vancouver, and then placed on ocean-going tankers for California, Washington, and Alaska. Because of the regulatory issues railing directly to California, it is easier/cheaper/whatever to go via Vancouver and then down to California.

The Columbian is reporting:

North Dakota's oil boom is bringing crude oil — and jobs — to the Port of Vancouver.

Tesoro Corporation and Savage Companies said Monday they've launched a joint venture to build and operate facilities to store, load and unload crude oil at the port. The crude oil would be shipped to the port by rail from the Bakken oil formation in North Dakota. Then it would be hauled by ship to refineries in Washington, California and Alaska for domestic purposes, including gasoline for cars and trucks.

The companies would own the facilities, designed to initially handle 120,000 barrels per day with the potential to expand to 280,000. However, Tesoro and Savage need to secure a ground lease with the port, which initially is expected to be for 10 years. The public will have a chance to weigh in on the matter: The port's Board of Commissioners is expected to decide a lease deal by June. Likewise, a public vetting will occur before Washington state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, a one-stop place for evaluating requests for permits to build major energy facilities.