Transporting oil and petroleum products by rail is becoming a more common method in North America, providing a faster and more flexible way for shipping, and an alternate to pipeline delivery.
'Transporting oil by rail is more flexible,' said Jennifer Winter, associate director of energy and environmental policy at The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary in Canada.
'Rail goes to a lot of places that the pipelines don’t. Producers can ship oil in smaller chunks by rail,' she added.
According to the Association of American Railroads, rail shipments of oil and petroleum products in the U.S. increased 13.4 percent in the first 10 months of 2014, compared to the same period last year.
'The maximum capacity of a rail tank car is between 700-800 barrels,' Winter said.
'So, it could be much better for smaller producers, but it is 30-50 percent more expensive and less safe,' she added.
According to a report by the U.S. State of Washington's Department of Ecology, there are potential public safety risks from fires and explosions with the rail transportation, especially in locations where rail lines run through heavily populated areas.
In 2013, over 12.7 billion gallons of crude oil were transported by rail in the U.S., while 650,000 carloads are expected to carry 19.5 billion gallons by the end of 2014, said the report named the Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study released on Oct. 1.
'In the U.S., the number of carloads of crude oil-containing rail tank cars has increased nearly 44 times in the last six years – from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to 415,000 carloads in 2013,' the report said.
The Association of American Railroads data indicate that oil and petroleum products totaled over 600,000 tank cars, during January-October of 2014, a 13.4 percent increase from last year.
In Canada, rail shipments of oil and petroleum products was over 300,000 tank cars in the same period, a 12.9 percent increase from last year, according to the association.
- Oil production surge in North America
The spike in crude transportation runs parallel to the increase of oil production in North America.
While the U.S. enjoyed rising oil production since the 2008 shale boom, Canada increasingly produces more oil from tar sands.
Crude oil production in the U.S. increased from 1.8 to 2.7 billion barrels from 2008 to 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Canadian crude oil production increased from 70 to 80 million cubic meters (440 to 500 million barrels) between 2009 and 2013, according to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers' statistics.
Oil sands production in Canada also rose from 83 to 113 million cubic meters (522 to 711 million barrels) in the same period, the statistics show.
While the unit of barrels is used in the world to report crude oil production, Canada uses cubic meters.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency