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First Crude Oil Train Rolls Out of Black Thunder Terminal

credit Andrew Goodson via Flickr

Another rail loading facility for crude oil opened in Wyoming last week, bringing the total to at least seven.

Seventy- thousand barrels of Wyoming oil rolled out of the Black Thunder terminal in the Powder River Basin, headed for a refinery on the East Coast.

“We believe that the location of this particular terminal may be a little more unique to the business as it is in the heart of the basin," says  Steven Huckaby, CEO of Meritage Midstream, the company behind the crude loading facility. "It has a great location advantage to some other terminals."

Huckaby says rail offers more flexibility than pipeline in bringing crude oil to market.

"The pipelines are pointed to specific markets. And markets change over time. Rail affords you the opportunity to move into different markets much easier than pipeline does. So you can always seek the highest price market.”

Right now the terminal can load around ten thousand barrels of oil per day, but Huckaby says they hope to be able to load fifty thousand by 2015.  

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