Domestic oil by rail distribution analysis

Abstract

The United States has seen a massive increase in oil production over the last ten years due to new fracking technologies that can extract previously unreachable oil. These new fields are not as well connected with traditional mid-stream infrastructure, such as pipelines, and as a result have started to be transported by train car. This paper focuses on analyzing how new and expanding oil refineries and terminals affect the current domestic oil system with a specific focus on those facilities that are using the oil by rail system. Two models were created utilizing crude oil volume flows and netback data for refineries receiving Bakken oil by rail, one that can use given data to mimic the current system, and a second that is able to predict the oil flow when there are changes in the current system. The results will then be analyzed to show the carbon impact that proposed terminals and refineries create and the associated environmental risk. This information will then be used by RFF to help guide their funding decisions to climate advocates and organizations who are working on preventing such projects from occurring throughout the United States.