Oil storage trains?

[OldEastRR]

I heard that because oil products usage is down but oil is still being pumped out because the producers need the money, they're running out of room to store the excess building up.  I was wondering if US railroads are or would be renting out fleets of empty tank cars to store the oil in?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I don't know, I think the cars are in high demand due to Covid shipments.

[pjm20]

Wouldn't surprise me. The railroad close to my Dad's house already stores excess tank cars on a disused portion of the line due to the glut resulting from the fall of shale production in PA.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

I don't know, I think the cars are in high demand due to Covid shipments.

Yup, the math checks out.

[Iain]

They're using oil tankers for this purpose at sea.

[eric220]

They don’t haul viruses in tankers.

Well they may be hauling viruses in these tankers.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

They don’t haul viruses in tankers.

Well they may be hauling viruses in these tankers.

Yeah. I know it's a fake.

Everyone knows they really haul them palletized in boxcars.

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[Mark5]

It has gotten so bad in Texas that they are striking deals with pool owners - even above the ground pools!

[johnb]

They're using oil tankers for this purpose at sea.

those are full right now...

[mu26aeh]

Seeing as a lot of municipalities complain about empty tankers sitting on unused spurs, I highly doubt railroads could convince them to be alright with loaded ones sitting for extended periods of time

[Jbub]

Seeing as a lot of municipalities complain about empty tankers sitting on unused spurs, I highly doubt railroads could convince them to be alright with loaded ones sitting for extended periods of time

Mayor of Littlebigtown: Hey railroad man are those tank cars full?
Railroad man: Nope!
Mayor of Littlebigtown: You sure? Those truck springs look loaded down.
Railroad man: We don't store loaded tank cars.
Mayor of Littlebigtown: Okay open the valve to prove it.
Railroad man: Can't, don't have the tool, only the refinery and car filler have them. We just move the car.

[Hyperion]

Total capacity of every crude oil tank car available in the US is about 3 billion gallons of crude.   We use about 1 billion gallons of crude per day.

So, if you filled every single tank-car, that would only be enough to hold about 3 days worth of inventory.  Not a lot in the grand scheme of things.   Total US crude oil storage capacity is 50 billion gallons (about 35 billions being the strategic reserve), so tank cars only amount to about 2% of that.  So, if they really are out of places to store it all, tank cars aren't going to make much difference.

And that's not even accounting for the fact that a big chunk of those cars are needed to actually move the product to begin with and already are full even today; just in-transit.   It's not like all of these cars are sitting around empty waiting to be filled with something, even if it means parking them full.

[eric220]

Yeah. I know it's a fake.

Everyone knows they really haul them palletized in boxcars.

Ha!

Evidently no X-Files fans here.

[Englewood]

Wait, what ever happened to peak oil? 

[Mark5]

Wait, what ever happened to peak oil? 

It's coming, it's coming!