Crude Oil Train Derailment In Lynchburg, Virginia; Libyan Oil Production Decline Will Affect Saudi Production

Updates

May 1, 2014: The CSX Corp train that derailed and erupted in flames in Lynchburg, Virginia, was carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale in North Dakota, the kind of oil involved in several other fiery derailments over the last few months, the railroad said on Thursday.

Comment: it should be noted that there were no injuries, fatalities. About the same time this happened, a low-flying plane in fog hit a wind turbine killing three passengers and the pilot in the small private plane. That story was not widely reported. 
 

Original Post

Specifics not yet reported.

I first saw it in LA Times; will be reported everywhere, eventually.

From Reuters:

There was no immediate information about where the train was coming from or where it was heading. Most East Coast refineries are far to the north. One of the only crude oil facilities to the east of Lynchburg is a converted refinery in Yorktown, which is now a storage depot run by Plains All American. Officials said there were no reports of injuries.

Other News

Bloomberg is reporting with the chart of the day:

Saudi Arabia will probably have to sustain production above 10 million barrels a day for the longest period in more than 30 years as it meets the summer surge in domestic demand and compensates for production losses in Libya. 

This should come as no surprise to regular readers. The surprise will come whether Saudi Arabia is able to keep up on a prolonged basis. Both Brent and WTI are trading lower today; obviously no one thinks this is a very big deal.

********************

Remember how President Obama said there was no war on coal (sort of like his promise: "You can keep your doctor if you want"). The Boston Globe is reporting:

Competition from natural gas combined with increasing environmental regulations has made casualties of many of the nation’s aging coal-fired power plants, including Salem Harbor Power Station and Brayton Point in Somerset.

By 2020, about 60 gigawatts of coal-fired electric-generating capacity — enough to power an estimated 48.5 million homes — is expected to disappear, at least partly due to the expense of meeting federal rules to cut pollution from power plants, according to the Energy Department.

Don't let anyone fool you. Natural gas played a role but this is all about the war on coal, nothing else, regardless of how one wants to spin it. Don't believe me? Read the next two paragraphs:

“For an existing coal plant to basically stay in operation, it would have to install some sort of pollution control apparatus, such as a scrubber,” said Elias Johnson, an energy analyst with the Energy Information Administration. “The problem is that these technologies are not cheap.”

The consequences are likely an even greater reliance on natural gas, which despite booming production, is experiencing upward pressures on prices. That in turn could mean higher heating and electrical costs for New England consumers.