US East Coast (PADD 1) "unaccounted-for" supply of crude oil delivered to refineries has spiked this year. The only explanation is crude delivered by rail.
EIA: - While EIA does report inter-PADD domestic barge and tanker movements of crude oil, the intra-PADD shipment of crude that has been railed to Albany, New York and then shipped intra-PADD by barge to East Coast refineries is not captured and is included in the unaccounted-for supply. Refineries in eastern Canada have also gained access to Bakken crudes via rail and by barge/ship from Albany.
Trade press and company reports indicate that crude-by-rail infrastructure is continuing to expand on the East Coast. The Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey is already processing Bakken crude that is shipped to the refinery by rail and then by barge, and has plans to process more, once a 50,000-bbl/d rail offloading facility at the refinery is completed. Philadelphia Energy Solutions, a partnership between The Carlyle Group and Sunoco Inc., is developing crude-by-rail unloading facilities at their refinery in Philadelphia. Enbridge Inc., along with other partners, is developing the Eddystone Rail Company, a crude-by-rail terminal designed to provide 160,000 bbl/d of domestic crude to refineries in Philadelphia by mid-2014.
Rather than moving gasoline and jet fuel up from Louisiana refineries, Bakken (North Dakota) crude is brought in by rail directly to refineries in the East. And East Coast refinery capacity is quickly being upgraded. Railroads have played a major role in this rapid shift in US fuel transport markets and rail shares have been the beneficiaries.
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