Over
the last few years crude oil shipment within the United States has been sky
rocketing. With rail and pipeline among the largest transportation avenues. The
reason for this market uptick is to do with the innovation of hydraulic
fracturing or better known as "fracking". With the discovery of the
Bakken shale fields in North Dakota and Montana, and the Barnett fields in
Texas just to name two. The United States is approaching the record high for
crude oil extracted per day that we set back in the 1970's of 9.6 million
barrels per day. In 2013 we were at 7.5 million barrels per day, a massive
increase from the 2008 level of 5 million barrels per day. This upward trend is
still going on. Currently the United States is in a reverse bidding trend with Saudi Arabia and Russia. Each country is trying to drive the price lower in an
effort to force their competition out of business by out lasting them. As of
2013 Russia sat at the top of the list for crude oil production with 10.05 million
barrels per day. Where Saudi Arabia was around the 9.8 million barrels per day
mark, in 2014 how ever Saudi Arabia took a downward trend with production at
9.6 million barrels per day. A difference of around 200,000 barrels per day.
With
production on the rise, the question now becomes how to transport it? Currently
many of the refineries are located along the coast, or in major city centers
with the large industry areas. The drilling areas where the crude oil
originates in many cases is on the other side of the country. So the only
viable ways to get the oil to the refineries is either by truck, rail or
pipeline. There are pros and cons to each method. Looking at trucking; While it
is the most flexible amongst the three, it is also the most expensive for the
least amount moved. Pipeline is the most widely used, it is the cheapest method
for transporting, but is ridged. With the pipeline it is impossible to change
which market you are sending the oil to, also pipelines are notoriously
dangerous and involve a lot to maintain and construct. In areas like North
Dakota the current pipelines lack the capacity to keep up with crude oil
production. The last option for cross country shipping is rail. Rail has become
a very popular choice in the last few years. With originating carloads in 2012
at 152,676, compared to the number of originating car loads in 2013 being
299,652. That's an increase of almost 96 percent. These numbers were looking at
the first 9 months of the year, the expected year end totals for 2013 are
projected to be around 400,000 originating carloads. While rail is a great
choice for the oil companies, it may not be the best choice for us. There is an
ongoing debate on just how safe crude oil shipped over rail is. While pipelines
have more accidents and spills compared to rail, that does not necessarily mean
that rail in inherently safer. by just looking at the numbers pipelines spilled
almost 20 million gallons of oil from 2002 - 2012. while rail spilled just
95,000 gallons over the same time frame. While these numbers are vastly in
favor of rail, we must take into account the volume of oil transported by each.
During these years pipelines were transporting billions of gallons of crude
oil, where rail was only at a fraction of that amount. As it stands rail is
much more dangerous not only to the environment, but also to population
centers. Much of the pipelines in the United States travel through unpopulated
areas, through no man's lands as it were. However rail passes through almost
every major city, including Athens Ohio. The rail line Norfolk Southern transports
Bakken crude oil through Ohio enroot to the east coast refineries. One of the
things that makes Bakken crude oil so desirable is how easy it is to refine. Unfortunately
the reason that it is so easy to refine is also what makes it so volatile and explosive.
Millions upon millions of gallons of this hazardous material passes through urban
centers on a daily basis. Rail companies are attempting to ease the public mind
by trying to either phase out or upgrade the existing tanker cars, and adding
new cars that have more advanced safety systems. They are also pushing for
stricter guidelines for the transportation of crude oil. But these policies
only are put in place after an incident has happened. For example, when the
Lac-Megantic rail disaster happened the a new guideline prohibiting leaving a
train unattended was implemented. This guideline could have saved lives had it
been implemented before the accident. But with the current regulations and
secrecy on the part of the railway companies the next Lac-Megantic disaster
could happen anywhere, even in rural Athens Ohio.
