Eighty-Eight Oil LLC (EEOLLC) announced plans to construct and operate a unit train facility on BNSF Railway’s mainline near the Guernsey WY crude oil pipeline hub. The facility will be directly connected to EEOLLC’s existing Guernsey crude oil terminal, which has two million barrels of storage and currently receives crude oil from Butte Pipeline, Belle Fourche Pipeline, Platte Pipeline, and the Rocky Mountain Pipeline System.
The Guernsey terminal also maintains truck unloading facilities. The facility will be the first rail transloading terminal capable of loading multiple crude types including those from the Williston Basin (Bakken), the Powder River Basin (Niobrara), Southwest Wyoming, Big Horn Basin, and Canada.
“Because this terminal is being designed to handle multiple crude types, we are confident of its long term viability,” says Jerry Herz, superintendent of EEOLLC. “Further, by connecting our terminal to BNSF’s expansive railway system, we can provide producers of the Rocky Mountains and Canada further flexibility in adding value to their production and transporting it to markets throughout the United States.”
Dave Garin, BNSF group vice-president, industrial products, says: “We look forward to working with EEOLLC to build and serve this unique unit train rail facility. As demand continues to rise, rail has stepped up to provide a more flexible, long-term, and economical option to ship crude oil to destination markets throughout the East, West and Gulf coasts and along the Mississippi River.”
With completion expected later this year, the facility will initially include three rail loop tracks and required tankage for unit train loading operations. Each loop track will be capable of holding one unit train. In addition, the automated loading racks will be capable of loading two trains with different crude types simultaneously. Initial rail loading capacity will be approximately 80,000 barrels per day with expansion capability.