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Devils Lake, ND | I've read lots of facts piecemeal about this, but never really bored into it. So this morning, I took some time and did. Here is what I came up with. Lots of numbers and math. PLEASE CHECK THEM FOR ME. I don't want to get this wrong. Also please take the political discussion somewhere else. This is the thread for facts and factual discussion. Thank you and enjoy:
ND produced 859,000 barrels/day in 2013.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nd-pumps-record-313-5m-194645643.html
800,000 barrels/day transported by rail:
http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/02/05/keystone-xl-northern-leg-frack...
How much can that be reduced by new pipelines?
Keystone XL will move 800,000 barrels a day, mostly Canadian. It will, however have an onramp for 100,000 barrels/day of ND oil:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-horn/keystone-xls-northern-leg_...
There's a 2nd pipeline that's not getting much attention: Enbridge Sandpiper.
https://www.enbridge.com/~/media/www/Site%20Documents/Delivering%20E...
It will have a capacity of 225,000 barrels/day and will run from NWND to Wisconsin (and tie in with other pipelines there) roughly parallel to Hwy 2. Because it doesn't cross an international border, the approval process is much simpler, only from the States of ND, MN and WI it appears that process is going smoothly.
http://www.kxnet.com/story/24845832/psc-hearing-on-sandpiper-pipeli...
That's a total of 325,000 barrels/day that could be moved by pipeline.
One rail car of oil is 700 barrels:
https://www.bnsf.com/customers/oil-gas/ship-individual-railcars.html
Do the math, and Sandpiper equals 117,000 cars/year and Keystone XL equals 52,000 cars/year. That equals 172M additional bushels/year that could be railed if both pipelines existed.
ND produced a total of 809M bushels of corn, soybeans and wheat in 2013.
Those are the facts Here are the takeaways:
Sandpiper is more important than Keystone XL, and it will probably be running in 2016.
These 2 pipelines could displace enough rail capacity to account for 21% of ND's grain production.
If we could magically make the pipelines happen right now, the railroads could move grain 25% faster.
There's no way we can add enough cars, rail, engines or people to fix our grain logistics problem. We need the pipelines.
Our grain shipment problems, fertilizer shipment problems, basis problems, fertilizer price problems, derailment problems and explosion problems will continue until AT LEAST 2016.
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North Dakota grain/oil shipment facts
