Replies to post #2022 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Factoid—As many as 140 carloads of fracking sand are used to complete one shale well.

Source: 2/16/11 UNP webcast at BB&T Transportation Services Conference (http://www.up.com/investors/presentations/bbt/index.shtml ).

[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.

[DewDiligence]

Oil companies settle Lac-Mégantic derailment case for $345M:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/big-oil-firms-put-millions-into-compensation-fund-for-train-blast-1433980259

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Marathon Oil Corp. , ConocoPhillips, Irving Oil Ltd. and others have contributed to a $345 million fund for victims of the accident in Lac-Mégantic, according to court filings and interviews.

If U.S. and Canadian courts approve the fund, the companies would be shielded from several lawsuits claiming wrongful death and negligence in connection with the tragedy.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., the small railroad hauling the crude oil, sought bankruptcy protection soon after the accident, in which an unattended train carrying oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale derailed and erupted into flames, killing 47.