Oil from North Dakota improperly classified, officials say

Fuel Fix ^ | February 4, 2014 | Associated Press

[thackney]

Government investigators have found crude oil being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken region was misclassified in samples taken from 11 out of 18 truck shipments en route to rail loading stations, federal transportation officials said Tuesday.

Hazardous materials shipments are supposed to be classified into one of nine categories depending on the risk involved. If the materials are misclassified, they could wind up being shipped in less protective rail tank cars and emergency personnel might follow the wrong protocols when responding to a spill.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said it has proposed fining three companies involved in the shipments — Hess Corp., Whiting Oil and Gas Corp., and Marathon Oil Co. — a total of $93,000.

“The fines we are proposing today should send a message to everyone involved in the shipment of crude oil: You must test and classify this material properly if you want to use our transportation system to ship it,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

[Rodamala]

There is only one placard designation for Petroleum Crude Oil.

All of the potential "not really crude oil" alternative classifications ("distillates", petroleum, "oil, petroleum", "petroleum products") do have different placards.... BUT THE SAME GUIDE NUMBER, 128.

What would Hillary say?

[thackney]

1.) I find it strange that trucks loaded with crude oil would be going to rail loading facilities and not vise versa (I am ignorant of ground to refinery process).

Rail does not run to each individual well. Trucks go to well sites and typically haul to either a train or pipeline loading station for shipment direct to the refinery. Some wells are close enough to haul direct to the refinery but that in not typical. Truck haul over distance is more expensive than rail or pipeline, so you try to minimize the distance trucks run.

2.) If the source is the same, namely Bakken, then why the differing qualities?

The Bakken isn't one large interconnected pool, but rather a play in the area and layer of the Williston sedimentary basin.

But I think this article includes descriptions outside the Bakken, it just focused most of the discussion on the Bakken.

3.) Now do we know whoever tested the product was not intent on falsifying the data in order to collect a fine?

I would say just the opossite. Testing wasn't originally done to avoid cost. Either dulicate a previous test result or to avoid using a more expensive tank. I expect the sample used for creating a fine includes a sample for verification, or the test was witnessed.

[thackney]

Not exactly what you asked, but this helps compare.

[thackney]

Here is one sample value:

Flash Point (°C) & Method: <-35 (PMCC)

http://www.cenovus.com/contractor/docs/CenovusMSDS_BakkenOil.pdf

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That’s a nice sulfur...

[Fester Chugabrew]

Thanks. A few more questions if you would please bear with me:

1.) Are the trucks that come from the wells hauling the same product that requires placard 1267?

2.) In the case at hand, would the differing classification result in a different placard?

3.) Once a railroad tank car goes into service of crude oil, is it dedicated to that particular substance throughout its history?

[thackney]

1) & 2) Need some other FReeper help for those.

3) I think that is typical, but I also expect that it can be cleaned and used for others. Typically train oil cars are bought/leased by an oil company, or a refinery, that keeps the same car in the same service.

[thackney]

It is a high quality oil from a low price location.

[Gumdrop]

So. OK. Wouldn't the Keystone Pipeline resolve this difficulty? This all sounds like a lot of excess government protocol set up to justify one entire bureaucracy - the EPA.

[Fightin Whitey]

It is a high quality oil from a low price location.

That's a pitch-perfect way to put it, Thackney.

You are really invaluable on these threads.

Many thanks for taking time.

[Smokin' Joe]

Likely just confusion over the hazmat classification for shipping. Of course, when this drilling boom (you have to drill the well before you can frack it, so "fracking boom" seemed an odd choice of words unless the onus was supposed to fall on the (eeeeeevil) practice of enhanced recovery.) was young, the US attorney out of Denver tried to fine seven oil companies over 28 'protected' birds found in reserve pits (out of 7000 drilling and production locations). He actually wanted people to do jail time over the birds, even though no one could say how they died or how they ended up in the pits. They even flew around in helicopters to find the birds.

The industry pretty much eliminated the reserve pits, which has led to a boom in manufacturing and renting 400 bbl upright tanks, which can be moved by truck, and in solids control and disposal, which incidentally, uses coal fly ash as one of the consolidating agents (another problem turned into a product).

The attempts to stifle just end up creating more jobs and industry, which I believe really frustrates the administration.

In short, no angle is left unexplored in the drive to attenuate or stop oil development.

The anti-fracking stuff hasn't found a case where fracking (the subsurface procedure) has led to environmental disaster, the Federal Lease permitting lag (6 months or more, where the State takes only a few weeks) hasn't been able to stop things because relatively few of the lease acres are Federal Land, and the bird angle didn't work (thrown out by the judge).

Now they are down to transportation accidents and somehow trying to make crude oil produced partly because of hydraulic fracturing more dangerous than crude oil that is produced from vertical wells.

I forsee a boom in railcar construction, perhaps, but this is too big for the Government to shut down.

[Smokin' Joe]

Hess was Amerada Hess, and at one time controlled about 1/3 of the mineral acres in the Williston Basin (where the Bakken FOrmation lies). Marathon and Whiting have considerable mineral interests up here, also, along with Continental Resources and XTO Energy, to name a few.

[atc23]

I was at Cushing Oklahoma Station 32 on the Trans Canada pipeline last week trying to address some cavitation issues with 38,000 GPM transfer pumps. Initial impressions are that the pumpage is much lower in SG than they were designed for - I was surprised when the customer told me they weren't pumping crude "at the moment" but a much lighter hydrocarbon from a tank farm a mile or so away. None of this makes any sense to us. The customer said they expected cavitation with "this" pumpage - "we start taking suction from Ponca City in a week or so - that's the higher SG crude". " as long as you can guarantee the noise us cavitation and not a mechanical issue - that's what we care about now".

good article

[Smokin' Joe]

You aren't supposed to mix oils from different formations--regulations forbid mixing Mississippian oil with Silurian oil, for instance. (There are some 14 or so different formations in the Williston Basin which produce oil). Mixing sour crude with sweet would only lower the value of the sweet crude, so no one would consider it.

The pad well setups have multiple wells producing from the same formation, or from the Bakken and the Three Forks, and the oil is sourced from the Upper and Lower Bakken Shales, respectively.

Same age, same source rock formation, so separate tank batteries do not make sense in that situation.

One of the attractions for drilling multiple wells from one pad is the savings in production infrastructure (lower cost, one location, one lease road, one pipeline tie-in for gas/oil, etc.).

The Bakken and Three Forks oil is sweet, so no H2S.

[hoosiermama]

Wonder if any of those railroad cars will be built by Lafayette Trailer or Monon Trailer here in Indiana. They’ve expanded to trucks and containers Dont know if they do that type of car. Regardless, the impact of this industry is NOT just felt in the immediate vacinity!

[Smokin' Joe]

You are right, the impact covers much of the country, and we won't even consider the 'toys' that get bought.

Consider:

Manufactured housing

Vehicles, from semis to pickups

Rail cars

Semi trailers

lumber

Cabinetry

flooring

plumbing supplies (residential/commercial)

Electrical equipment from switch boxes to substations

Valves (oil field), wellheads, parts for and Blowout preventers.

Pumps, of all types and sizes

Tubular goods (drill pipe, casing, pipeline)

tires

fuel

anything you can buy in Walmart, including groceries.

Flame Resistant Clothing (NFPA 2112 Compliant)

work boots

hard hats

the list goes on, but most of that comes from somewhere else, and people here are buying it (and wearing it out or using it up.

That covers a lot of economy, and has created or maintained a lot more jobs than the Obamites, even with their Government Boom.

[thackney]

Thanks for that info.

While they produce their own, do you know if companies like also buy oil from smaller companies?

[thackney]

I do work in Mont Belvieu at a facility that has over 60 different pipelines entering and leaving the facility (natural gas and multiple different grades of natural gas liquids).

Not everything is cross-connected but the manifolding via valving is incredible. Pumps designed for one grade get used for another as price and market conditions swing. It can be very frustrating for a design engineer when operations gets a new idea for a “temporary” condition.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Blocking the pipeline isn’t enough. Time to step up the harassment of trucking.

[Smokin' Joe]

I can’t say with certainty, but I would expect very small companies sell their oil to others. Not so much with the Bakken, but with older wells in formations like the Duperow and Red River