The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

(HES)—Oil unit trains have a pretty bad safety record lately; another accident in Alabama:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303309504579186081865040074

Authorities are investigating why another derailment of a crude-oil train resulted in an explosion—this time in a rural area of Alabama early Friday. The accident, which occurred near Aliceville around 1 a.m., caused three of 90 tank cars to explode.

…Crude oil's properties don't normally make it explosive. However, Canadian safety investigators are still studying the reasons for blasts that wiped out much of the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic in a deadly crude-oil train derailment in July. That accident, in which 47 people were killed, raised questions about the safety of crude-oil shipments and the tank cars it is shipped in.

Any curtailment of such transportation, even if temporary, would be a blow to HES, which moves 54K bbl/day to refineries via company-owned unit trains.