California Gets Ready for Uptick in Rail Oil ShippingLast year, the state statistics show that about 1.1% (6.1 million bbl) of the crude processed in California was delivered by rail. Refiners in the state received less than 1% of their total crude volumes via rail, and half of that volume -- about 1 million bbl -- came from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota.
"The [CEC] does not forecast crude oil rail imports; however, if all six of the crude-by-rail projects currently being pursued in California are all constructed and operated at full capacity, the amount of crude oil being imported via rail cars could rise to about 27% of the total [oil] processed by California refineries by 2016," CEC said.
The state's refineries process about 1.6 million b/d, and the combined capacity of the five largest crude-by-rail projects would amount to 400,000 b/d, the CEC said.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/98063-california-gets-ready-for-uptick-in-rail-oil-shipping
To my point, with time increasing unloading capacity of crude by rail is being built, California is one area where pipelines will never be built, thus insuring continued business for the crude by rail operators.
Regards,
Nawar