Re: Rail Is Not Dead!
tokyogai
11/3/2011 10:03:02 AM
I fully agree. It looked like they were dying, but this is giving the rails a real comeback.
Re: Rail Is Not Dead!
Dex
11/3/2011 9:58:38 AM
I think if you study the statistics, rail is actually safer than trucks. I'm not really sure about pipelines, but I know there was a leak in a pipeline in Montana a few months ago.
Re: Rail Is Not Dead!
cat tail
11/3/2011 9:34:27 AM
Rail is playing a big role in the whole ethanol game too. We can debate the merits of ethanol another time.
But that issue aside, transporting ethanol by rail increased 400 percent between 2000 and 2009, according to the Association of American Railroads. There are something like more than 200,000 carloads of ethanol being shipped now, largely the result of the increase in ethanol production during the past decade.
Last month, a freight train carrying ethanol derailed and exploded in Illinois. My question to you guys: how safe do you think it is to transport potentially hazardous materials by rail?
When I lived on the east coast it was rare that I would see any railroads at all that were not passenger trains. But since moving to Ohio I see cargo trains every single day, It has let me know that Rail is not dead! The tracks are there, the trains can move a massive amount of cargo a long way so it makes a lot of sense to use them and in the case of ND, build more.
Interesting stuff. North Dakota is leading the shift in the ongoing decline in US reliance on the rest of the world for its petroleum. In August, the latest month for which figures are available, total net imports of petroleum for August, released by the Energy Information Administration late last week, were just over 8 million b/d.
That's the the lowest import dependence for the US since late 1995 in terms of actual barrels -- even though we're using more oil now. In 1995, the US was consuming anywhere between 17 to 18 million b/d. Now, it's more than 19.5 million b/d. So imports as a percentage of total US consumption in August were far less than 16 years ago, and all that oil coming from North Dakota is a significant factor.
Re: Infrastructure
driven
11/3/2011 9:07:52 AM
Agreed. The growth of production there is phenomenol, and the rails have their limitations too. Although the interesting thing about using trains is the ease with which it enables the producers to bypass Cushing, OK. Just this morning, I was readiing that: High levels of oil inventories in the Cushing delivery hub have pushed the U.S. benchmark West Texas International crude price to trade recently at more than a $25 discount to North Sea Brent and other U.S. crude grades.
Infrastructure
Tenacious
11/3/2011 8:56:32 AM
Interesting to see what a large role rail is playing in this asset. What I wonder is what happens when the rails, too, become as clogged as the pipelines and roads. With the rapid growth of production, that seems like the inevitable next issue.
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