Andrew Moore
Managing editor, Platts Coal Trader 
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July 31, 2018 16:00 UTC 
(0)
Utility coal stockpiles stood at 128.4 million st at the end of May, according to the most recent US Energy Information Administration data, released last week. The figure was down 20.9% from the year-ago month, and down 23.7% from the five-year average for the month. |
Barbara Troner
Managing editor, Americas tanker markets 
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November 11, 2016 18:22 UTC
(2)
“Maybe we’ll talk about shipping water by rail at the next Railway Age gathering in 2017,” is what several delegates said at the Energy by Rail conference in Arlington, Virginia in October. The crude by rail landscape must be in a dire state when delegates from the railway industry are toying with the idea of hauling water to draught-prone regions or shale production sites in order to repurpose the currently 113,000 rail tank cars — 28% of the entire 400,000 strong fleet — sitting idle on offline tracks or in storage amid declining CBR volumes. |
Ashok Dutta
Senior Editor, Oil News, North America 
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October 10, 2016 04:01 UTC
(1)
First Nations tribes in Canada and the US have started flexing their muscles, successfully delaying pipeline projects on both sides of the border. Indications are that this effort is becoming more organized and may play a larger role in infrastructure decisions across the continent. Tribal action is behind the delays encountered by Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Tribes are demanding more consultation and, in some cases, opposing expansion of energy infrastructure altogether. |
Joshua Mann
Reporter
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September 29, 2015 00:01 UTC
(0)
Pipelines are chasing crude-by-rail shipments out of most US markets, but the Bakken-to-Atlantic-Coast route has managed to keep a hold on its market share, making the spread between domestic and international crudes more important than ever to profitability on the rails. Rail used to have a key advantage in the midstream market; namely, it was already there. When the US started producing massive quantities of crude oil from shale wells about six years ago, the volumes quickly overwhelmed the market’s ability to move it around with traditional infrastructure. Huge amounts of crude oil were piling up in the Bakken, hundreds or even thousands of miles from the major coastal refining regions, and no one had the space to move it. |
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Ashok Dutta
Senior Editor, Oil News, North America
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May 12, 2014 00:01 UTC
(0)
Of all the crude-by-rail accidents, none was more devastating than the one in Lac Megantic, Quebec. That puts particular pressure on the Canadian government to deal with the issue of rail car safety, as Ashok Dutta discusses in this week’s Oilgram News column, Regulation & Environment. |
Elizabeth Bassett
Web editor
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May 9, 2014 14:35 UTC
(0)
At the beginning of the month, The Barrel debuted The Oil Big Five, our round-up of the top five big trends or factors affecting the oil industry worldwide. The topics were chosen by our oil experts in offices around the globe, and we asked you to weigh in. What do you think are the most influential things for your markets and business? Today, we wanted to share the comments that you, our readers, sent our way. Remember, it’s not too late to comment on the original post (or on this one), and we’ll have another summary of our Platts picks for the next month in just a few more weeks. |
Jeffrey Bair
Reporter
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October 16, 2013 12:10 UTC
(0)
Ride the bike path that parallels the train tracks that bisect Lac-Megantic in Quebec’s postcard-perfect Eastern Townships, and you get a pretty good idea of how the accident unfolded that wiped out about half of its business district. The tracks slope gently for miles through the woods and then a little steeper along 10 residential blocks before the tracks take a little jog to the left. That’s where cars hauling North Dakota crude to a Canadian refinery jumped the tracks, setting off an explosion that killed 47 on July 6. It was the fourth-deadliest rail disaster in Canadian history and the worst in 149 years. |
Bridget Hunsucker
Reporter
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September 3, 2013 00:01 UTC
(0)
Less-than-attractive arbitrage opportunities for US crude-by-rail movements — driven primarily by the narrowing of the Brent-WTI spread — recently have enticed shippers back to pipelines. But crude-by-rail enthusiasts should fear not: there remain plenty of reasons to send oil the old-fashioned way besides hefty netbacks. |
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Bridget Hunsucker
Reporter
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July 29, 2013 17:43 UTC
(0)
While many have warned the economic viability of moving crude by rail is threatened by the narrowing of the benchmark Brent-West Texas Intermediate spread, a group of railroads are still singing its praises, vowing that the shipping phenomenon has staying power. |
Melanie Wold
Reporter
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July 10, 2013 03:28 UTC
(0)
As the smoke clears (literally) in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, after a runaway train packed with crude oil tankers crashed July 6, the oil industry is coming to terms with a business that has perhaps grown too far too fast. The Lac-Megantic accident is shining an unwelcome spotlight on the lack of regulatory oversight on oil by rail in both the US and Canada. The fact that the rail cars (which were being pulled by the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway) that crashed and exploded were considered unfit to carry hazardous materials sharpens that focus. |
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