Will this have or could this impact rail traffic in the area? BNSF already has a line through Stanley that extends east and west from there. It turns south at Snowden, MT and goes to/through the PRB (as far as I can see). What kind of traffic would/could be seen? How quickly could it come on line?
They make it sound like it’s a new thing.Oil and natural gas have been shipped out of the area around Lignite,ND for at least 50 years on the Great Northern in the 50’s and 60’s and then by pipeline after that.
Have a good one.
Bill B
I have to agree with Bill B. The railroad might get some trickle traffic of inbound construction materials for a while…maybe, but that’s it. Nearly all the oil will most likely leave by pipeline, the rest going by truck.
Now, if someone has the foresite to also build a badly needed refinery or two in the area, the railroad could get some outbound diesel and by-product shipments!
The way I understand it is that the oil has generally uneconomic to develop in the past. It’s there, and some was brought out, but it’s in boad horizontal layers that aren’t very thick. In the past a well would be drilled, start pumping, and quickly dry up.
They’ve developed a method of turning the drill shaft horizontal after going down vertically. This new method makes it economically feasible to get the oil now.
Increased rail traffic could be pipe, oil field supplies, and whatever results from the oil boom economic development in the area.
That’s pretty much in agreement with what I’ve read about that formation.
To be more precise, the drilling companies have developed ways of accurately drilling a horizontal shaft.
A key issue with this formation is what percentage of the oil is recoverable - with older technology, the estimates were for less than 5% - with newer technology??? Since the total reserves are estimated to be between 300 and 500 billion barrels, getting a couple extra percent recovery would be huge.