BOE Report Staff

An EIA Report With U.S. crude oil production at the highest level in two decades, outstripping pipeline capacity, the United States is relying more on railroads to move its new crude oil to refineries and storage centers. The amount of crude oil and refined petroleum products transported by rail totaled close to 356,000 carloads during the first half of 2013, up 48% from the same period in 2012, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR). U.S. weekly carloadings of crude oil and [Read more]

  OTTAWA - Transport Canada says there are no rules against leaving an unlocked, unmanned, running locomotive and its flammable cargo on a main rail line uphill from a populated centre.Officials with the federal rail regulator say they are looking at the overall safety of the rail system after the devastation wrought on the weekend by a runaway 73-car train carrying crude oil east through Quebec.The downtown of Lac-Megantic was flattened when an unattended train rolled in and exploded [Read more]

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) -- Blackened debris, twisted metal and gas leaks hampered rescue workers' search for perhaps dozens of bodies Tuesday, three days after a runaway oil train smashed into this small lakeside town and incinerated homes, a library and a crowded bar. Thirteen people were confirmed dead and nearly 40 others were still missing in a catastrophe that raised questions about the safety of transporting oil by rail instead of pipeline. Investigators were zeroing in on whether [Read more]

  OTTAWA - The question of how the brakes were set — or possibly reset — on a runaway train at the heart of the Lac-Megantic devastation emerged Monday as a critical aspect of the tragedy.Details and the sequence of events began to take shape with the acknowledgment the locomotive suffered an engine fire just hours before the train derailed Saturday.The blaze, which was quickly extinguished and thought to have been fed by the engine diesel, may have set in motion the subsequent disaster, [Read more]

  CALGARY - The train disaster that devastated a Quebec town over the weekend is likely to intensify the debate around transporting crude oil — regardless of whether it's by rail or pipeline, observers say.Lac-Megantic, Que., is reeling from the oil-fuelled infernos at a time when two proposals are being weighed to ship Western crude east through the province by reconfiguring existing pipelines.For Adam Scott of Environmental Defence, the concern is more about the dangers of what's [Read more]

Photo: Close-up aerial view of #derailment site after explosion #LacMegantic http://t.co/woqZdxv4QP— TSB of Canada (@TSBCanada) July 7, 2013 Photo: aerial view of charred freight train in #LacMegantic http://t.co/8GmejLjK43— TSB of Canada (@TSBCanada) July 8, 2013 Photo: aerial view of charred freight train in #LacMegantic http://t.co/NhBFPJIJje— TSB of Canada (@TSBCanada) July 8, 2013 Photo: derailed rail cars in #LacMegantic http://t.co/jJ7VRBy4Bv— TSB of [Read more]