West Canadian Sands Oil To The US By Rail (BBR) -- RNB Energy,

WOW! Remember that article from Filloon that the price of sand could go parabolic in 2014? Here it is. In the WSJ. 

Front-section WSJ: Oil Boomtown Williston, ND, Looks for a Stable Future.

Active rigs:

	4/2/2014	04/02/2013	04/02/2012	04/02/2011	04/02/2010
Active Rigs	192	184	207	170	103

RBN Energy: bitumen-by-rail (BBR) -- another must-read article.

Last month (March 4, 2014) the first unit train shipment of railbit blend bitumen crude from Southern Pacific Resources Western Canadian oil sands project arrived at Genesis Energy’s Natchez, MS terminal on the Eastern Gulf Coast. This is the first railbit unit train to hit our radar screen. Railbit has less light hydrocarbon diluent blended with it than the 30 percent required for making heavy Canadian bitumen crude flow in pipelines. So using rail to ship railbit saves some of the “diluent penalty” that pipeline shippers incur by buying diluent for blending and shipping it with their crude. Today we look at the logistics behind this ground-breaking shipment.

This blog returns to a topic that we have covered several times in the past two years. That is the transport of heavy Canadian bitumen crude. This thick, viscous crude is extracted from oil sands in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and requires complex processing to extract valuable refined products. Some bitumen crude is upgraded close to the wellhead in Canada but growing volumes are being extracted and shipped to refineries closer to market – most in the United States. The largest refining market for Canadian bitumen in the US is the Gulf Coast region that houses 1.5 MMb/d of the complex coker unit capacity best suited to refining bitumen.

Without that Keystone XL 2.0 North, it's just more CBR, and now BBR, across the United States. Don't blame the oil companies. [It was on February 24, 2014, that President Obama was quoted as saying that it was just a "couple of months" before he would make a decision on the Keystone.]

The Wall Street Journal

Top story: GM CEO criticizes failure to fix switch. Well, duh, what else could she say?


Signs of cheap energy in the US: factory activity picks up. Manufacturers reported a small piockup in activity in March, a jump supporting the view that the economy is strengthening after a weather-related pause. So, what is going on in pre-market trading? The Dow is up slightly.

What a hoot: Yellen tried to humanize the plight of individuals affected by long-term unemployment. The problem: two of the three have a criminal record.

More doubts about the value of mammograms. I remember blogging about this subject when I first started blogging back in 2007. I also remember talking to Air Force spouses about this subject back in the 1990s.

NATO doesn't see likelihood of Russian shift on the Crimean/Ukraine. So what is oil doing in pre-market trading? Down about 50 cents, solidly below $100 now.

Airlines, in light of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy, is warming up to tracking of "practically" all airliners in flight by satellite.

Does Tesla need a $5 billion battery? Tesla founder seeks sites in four southwestern states for a giant electric-carbattery factory but some industry experts and rivals are skeptical. Comment: I think forks are forgetting that Tesla is a battery company, not a car company.

Caterpillar's tax strategy stirs Senate debate: let's see if the Senate does anything. LOL.

Tokyo Disney sees record number of visitors.

What's all this talk about a "bad" market. S&P 500 finishes at record high yesterday.

Corn futures jump again; seven-month high; lower planting planned this spring.

The Los Angeles Times

I knew it was bad; I did not know it was this bad. LA's job growth since the 1990 was worse than Detroit's.  

Crimea crisis highlights Germany's aversion to being in the vanguard.