Shipments of crude oil from the Midwest to the East Coast declined in March for the second consecutive month, according to new data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The agency counted 13,027 thousand barrels (MBbls) of crude oil that arrived in the East Coast by rail, pipeline, tanker or barge from the Midwest, largely from surging production from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. That averages out to 420 MBbls of crude a day, down from 442 MBbls a day in February.
Shipments between the two regions peaked in January at 14,113 MBbls, or 455 MBbls a day.
More than 96 percent of crude oil in March about 405 MBbls a day traveled in rail cars, the data show, illustrating that the lack of pipeline infrastructure between the two regions that has placed nearly all crude oil destined for East Coast refineries on railroads. Much of that traffic passes through the Pittsburgh area on main lines operated by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation Corp.
The state has estimated 60 to 70 oil trains pass through the commonwealth every day.
In contrast, Midwest producers in March moved more than double the amount of crude oil to the Gulf Coast as they did to the East Coast, just 9 percent of those barrels were put on rail. Roughly 90 percent of the crude oil arrived in the Gulf Coast by pipeline.
