CBR Study: Bakken Crude Oil Tends Not To Explode If Trains Stay On The Track

FueFix is reporting:

Oil industry representatives are pushing back against tougher rules for rail cars carrying crude despite a string of fiery accidents and insisting that oil shipped by train from the Northern Plains is no more dangerous than some other cargoes.

An industry-funded report released Tuesday said the volatility of Bakken oil from North Dakota and Montana is comparable to other light crudes.

But the report offers further evidence that Bakken crude is more volatile than heavier oils such as from Canada’s tar sands, following similar studies by Canadian regulators and refiners. The results show Bakken oil is similar to light crudes produced elsewhere in the United States, with characteristics that fall well within the margin of safety for the current tank car fleet, industry representatives said.

Kari Cutting, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said it proves federal rules “are sufficient.”

A former senior federal railway safety official disagreed and said recent accidents are enough to justify government intervention.

“We already have examples of this particular crude going ‘boom,’” said Grady Cothen, former deputy associate administrator for safety at the Federal Railroad Administration. “That’s how it has to be treated from a regulatory standpoint despite the distinctions being made” by oil companies.

Oil trains in the U.S. and Canada were involved in at least eight major accidents during the last year, including an explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec that killed 47. Other trains carrying Bakken crude have since derailed and caught fire in Alabama, North Dakota, New Brunswick and Virginia.

Regulators in response have discouraged shippers from using older tank cars known to rupture during accidents.

Eight major accidents? Please. Only three involving Bakken crude oil: 1) because the engineer did not set the brakes properly (Canada); 2) washed out railbed due to heavy rains (Virginia); 3) derailment (when crude oil train hit a train that had just derailed). 

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