Canadian Railroads > CP to increase crude oil shipments

Several American and Canadian news agencies are reporting CP will begin moving crude oil from a new transload facility in Estevan, Saskatchewan, which is northwest of Portal, ND. This area of Saskatchewan is known as the "Canadian Bakken".

As an FYI CP currently moves crude oil from a terminal at Dollard, Saskatchewan, located southwest of Swift Current.



Allen

Where does the oil go?

Thanks in advance,

Rob L.

CP also loads Bakken oil at Stampede ND... One of the destinations for the oil is Albany NY.. where it goes from there I do not know..

bob

rob_l Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where does the oil go?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rob L.

Rob, it sounds like the crude oil market itself will determine where the oil is transported. Since using the railroad is more flexible than a pipeline the shipper is going to send the crude oil to a location where it will bring the highest $$$. Odds are that will normally be St James, LA (on UP) or Port Arthur, TX (either KCS or UP) once the oil receiving terminals are completed there. But there are alot of other possibilities including Albany, NY (as mentioned) or to the west coast.


Allen

We have had two CPR crude oil trains eastbound through Detroit, MI

Those trains through Detroit are 696's. Other 696's are also running around the lakes to Toronto. So far there is no established pattern so maybe it's a crew availability thing.

Bill Miller
Galt, ON

bradleymckay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rob_l Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Where does the oil go?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Rob L.
>
> Rob, it sounds like the crude oil market itself
> will determine where the oil is transported.
> Since using the railroad is more flexible than a
> pipeline the shipper is going to send the crude
> oil to a location where it will bring the highest
> $$$. Odds are that will normally be St James, LA
> (on UP) or Port Arthur, TX (either KCS or UP) once
> the oil receiving terminals are completed there.
> But there are alot of other possibilities
> including Albany, NY (as mentioned) or to the west
> coast.
>
>
> Allen

Very likely.

Crude oil pipe capacity through Cushing OK seems to be quite congested these days. That's blocked a lot of Bakken and Canadian oil from accessing the Gulf by pipe.

Many companies have had to develop go-arounds to get their oil to the Gulf Coast refineries. It seems that the refineries on the lower Delaware River in NJ DE PA are seeing more oil arrive via railroads.

Somebody (Kinder Morgan?) has announced plans to reverse flow on one pipe to bring oil flow direction away from Cushing and toward the Gulf.

The Bakken crude moving to Albany is transloaded to barges for delivery to a Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia that is not set up to receive rail deliveries.

There's some additional information in the Globe & Mail about the crude oil moving by rail out of Estevan and related areas.

Cenovus has contracted 48 railcars with room for about 600 barrels (about 25,000 gallons) each. That's the unit train. A 20 day cycle means the end point would be no more than 9 days out, leaving 1 day for loading plus 1 for unloading.

--Cenovus is the main shipper (used to be part of Encana)
--expect a loaded train every 20-35 days initially
--destinations depend on price and refinery capacity
--squeezed by absence of pipeline
--now "barging a lot of oil out of the [US} Bakken play"
--Enbridge to add 80,000 barrels a day of capacity to a rail terminal near Berthold, N.D. The facility will be designed to accept an initial 10,000 barrels a day by next July.
--one million barrel capacity in new terminals is planned for MT and ND. Presumably multiple rail and barge carriers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/cenovus-strikes-deal-with-cp-to-transport-its-oil/article2262865/