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.
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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
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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
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