Last week, TransCanada announced that it may use rail to replace the unapproved Keystone Xl Pipeline. TransCanada is considering shipping crude Bakaan shale oil from their oil hub in Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska by rail, where it would be transferred into existing Keystone pipelines to Port Arthur, Texas for refining. According to reports, the project would require a rail-pipeline transfer facility at Steel City.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. government placed additional conditions on the Keystone XL pipeline due to safety concerns over poor construction practices on the southern leg of the pipeline – which would receive additional oil if this new plan is implemented.
As reported by the A.P.
The weld failure rates are “horrible,” said Robert Bea, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. “The level of defects is indeed cause for alarm and indicative of something that is going on in the Keystone organization that isn’t satisfactory.
If implemented, this plan would have a huge impact on rail traffic between Nebraska and Oklahoma. Keystone projects it would require 1200 to 1300 trains per day to carry approximately 400,000 barrels, about half of the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Sources and background:
U.S. imposes new conditions on Keystone XL pipeline construction, Prince Georges Citizen
Company behind stalled Keystone XL tells U.S.: We’ll build a ‘rail bridge’, Edmonton Journal, Canadian Press
TransCanada considers shipping oil to U.S. by rail amid Keystone XL delays, Prosperity Saskatchewan
TransCanada touting “rail bridge”, Alberta Oil
Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: The Facts on Sticky Leaks, Billion Dollar Spills, and Dirty Air, PRWatch
CRUDE OIL BY RAIL: POTENTIAL FOR THE MOVEMENT OF ALBERTA
OIL SANDS CRUDE OIL AND RELATED PRODUCTS
BY CANADIAN RAILWAYS
Railroads emerge as alternative to Keystone XL Pipeline for moving oil sands from Canada