The bitumen-by-rail project to produce and transport a type of heavy Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast is now fully operational, according to project organizers US Development Group (USD) and Gibson Energy as quoted by FreightWaves. USD and Gibson partnered to create a diluent recovery unit (DRU) to produce bitumen, a crude oil that has been altered in such a way that it can be categorized as a nonhazardous material for transport, per U.S. and Canadian regulatory standards. After DRUbit is produced, the product is transported via railcars operated by Canadian Pacific. Kansas City Southern then receives the product in the U.S. and ships it to its final destination, the USD-owned and -operated Port Arthur Terminal in Texas. The product’s transportation is competitive with transporting Canadian heavy crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast via pipelines, according to USD and Gibson.
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