The high cost of railroading unconventional crude
The derailment and explosion of a shale oil train in Canada highlights desperate attempts by refineries along the US/Canada East coast to offset the conventional oil peak of Atlantic basin producers who traditionally supplied them with Brent type crude.
A run-away crude oil train travelling at 100 km/h derailed at a bend in the small Canadian town of Lac Megantic and burst into flames, destroying part of the town centre and killing many people.
The train with 72 cars and 5 locos was left at Nantes for a change of crew at 11:25 pm. Total volume of oil: around 50 Kb.
The rail siding at Nantes. A fire broke out in one of the locos but was extinguished by fire fighters. An hour later, the train starts to move down a 1.2% grade to Lac Megantic, 12 kms away
Mapping the tragedy: A timeline of the Lac Megantic train disaster
The train had come on a 3,200 km long trip from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota with its planned destination the Irving refinery in St. John.
.
Destined for the Irving refinery at Saint John N.B, a Montreal Maine & Atlantic crude oil train idles at Farnham. A new crew will take over for the next 140 miles run to Megantic
..
The last leg of the trip from Montreal to St John on the Atlantic via Maine
That’s where the oil came from:
The oil & gas industry sells this as “small footprint”
Desperate times: trucks delivering oil to the loading terminal
Loadout terminal West of Dickinson, North Dakota
Unit train. 1 car can hold 700 barrels http://jfsco.com/projects/railproject.asp
Much more at the link below:
http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-07-16/the-high-cost-of-railroading-unconventional-crude
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment