U.S. East Coast is key crude-by-rail destination
An examination of crude-by-rail data shows that the U.S. east coast has become one of the busiest regional destinations for hazardous crude-by-rail traffic. Oil Change International used publicly available Department of Energy (EIA) data as well as subscription data from Genscape to examine the growth of crude-by-rail to one of the most densely populated areas of the United States.
Key Findings:
An average of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude was delivered by rail to the east coast region in 2014.
Around 50% of all crude-by-rail is unloaded in the wider east coast region (PADD 1).
Around 50% of the crude oil input to six east coast refineries is supplied by rail.
Over 80% of the crude oil delivered by rail to the region comes from North Dakota (Bakken crude).
Canada is the next biggest source of crude-by- rail for the region at around 12%.
Five key terminals account for 73% of the unloading capacity and around 65% of the throughput of the region’s crude-by-rail terminals.
This briefing provides additional information on crude-by-rail to the east coast. For further information on crude-by-rail see www.priceofoil/rail