Atlas Oil Company, Taylor MI, has confirmed its strategic intent to become a major player in the crude hauling and crude transportation business. Over the past three years, Atlas’ crude transloading operations have increased by 750%, reflecting the explosive growth in domestic crude production. The new business unit will be referred to as Atlas Oil Transloading & Logistics.
“We were one of the early entrants to the crude transloading business,” said Sam Simon, chief executive officer and owner of Atlas Oil. “We gained valuable expertise in the field as this business began to grow and expand and are now positioned very favorably. As this market continues to grow, we will be a top player.”
The Energy Information Agency (EIA) expects US crude production will again break the all-time yearly growth record in 2013, jumping to 7.32 million barrels per day. This has led to speculation that the United States is poised to not only produce what we need domestically but also to potentially begin exporting crude.
Traditionally, crude oil has been transported to the refinery through pipelines, but the recent production boom has required additional capacity and a paradigm shift. Atlas Oil’s answer to this pipeline capacity constraint was to develop a “virtual pipeline” through a combination of rail, transloading, and trucking that has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective solution.
Atlas Oil Transloading & Logistics is now investing in the staffing of its facilities and in the specialized assets required for this business. The company recently deployed more 30 drivers and a fleet of trucks to the South Texas region to haul crude oil for a major refiner in the Eagle Ford shale play. Drivers and vehicles are based in Victoria TX.
An additional 20-40 drivers and assets will be deployed in the second quarter. Atlas Oil also acquired portable Lease Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) units to transfer the crude onto rail cars to be distributed to the refineries in the Gulf Coast and other markets served by rail.
Atlas Oil recently opened its fourth transloading site--the second site dedicated to crude oil--in Monahans TX. The site is 30 miles from Atlas Oil’s Odessa crude oil transload site and is located off the TNMR railroad.
“This is an extremely exciting business opportunity for Atlas,” says Bob Kenyon, Atlas executive vice-president, sales and business development. “The Monahans location offers plenty of room for expansion, with more than 75 acres of land. It is also optimally located in the heart of major crude oil exploration and production near the Delaware and Permian basins. We are really excited to be in the right place at the right time.”
The Monahans site currently has 15 employees, six to eight of them dedicated to crude operations. Atlas Oil is leasing this site and has exclusive rights to transload crude in this location.
Atlas Oil has two other transloading facilities which handle renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. They are located in Albuquerque NM and La Feria TX.