North Dakota's capacity to export oil by rail has jumped more than 50 percent in June as shippers in the state increasingly turn to mile-long trains to move crude to markets not linked by pipelines.North Dakota now has the ability to ship at least 470,000 barrels of oil daily by rail, up from about 310,000 barrels. The capacity could increase to 710,000 barrels by year's end with the addition of two other planned crude-to-rail projects.
The increase comes with a pair of crude-to-rail facilities built by Texas companies to move oil from the rich Bakken and Three Forks formations in western North Dakota's oil patch.
The press release continues:
Houston-based Musket Corp. increased capacity at its crude-to-rail facility at Dore from 10,000 barrels to 60,000 barrels per day, with the first full shipment leaving the terminal in early June.
Musket built the facility in 2008 and had been sending small so-called manifest shipments of North Dakota crude. The company now is loading full unit trains which typically consist of up to 104 railcars laden with 60,000 barrels of crude.And then this:
"We have successfully loaded and returned our initial unit trains to the Gulf Coast, East Coast and Canada from Dore with turn times of 10 to 17 days," Turner said.
Rangeland Energy LLC, which is based in Sugar Land, Texas, began shipping crude-laden trains from its facility near Epping earlier this month.And still more pipeline projects:
The facility, which includes five 120,000-barrel storage tanks and a sixth near Tioga, had been under construction for about a year, said Casey Nikoloric, a company spokeswoman.
The terminal has the capacity to ship in excess of 120,000 barrels daily by rail, Nikoloric said.
Kringstad said while six major pipeline projects are proposed to move North Dakota crude, railroads have taken a formidable foothold in the state.I still vividly recall the comment from a reader two years ago who opined that crude-by-rail would be a temporary phenomenon. Okay.
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