The oil refinery in Trainer owned by Delta Air Lines received its first shipment of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota on Feb. 12. The test shipment traveled in more than 100 rail cars to Albany, N.Y., where it was moved to a ship, and transported to Delta's docks in Trainer.
"We are still evaluating our crude sourcing options. We don't currently have a facility to off-load from rail at Trainer," Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
"If we decide to go ahead fully into the Bakken to get our crude, then we would invest in some rail facilities there, and it would come by rail all the way to the refinery."
Delta is the latest U.S. company to capitalize on North Dakota's growing energy industry, said N.D. Gov. Jack Dalrymple in a statement. Delta subsidiary Monroe Energy L.L.C. is refining the crude into jet fuel.
East Coast refineries such as Trainer, which employs about 300, are looking at ways to cut costs of importing crude from foreign markets, Dalrymple said. Delta has joined other East Coast refiners, including Phillips 66, which recently signed a deal to rail-in Bakken crude to its refinery in Bayway, N.J.
Copyright 2013 Philadelphia Newspapers, LLCAll Rights Reserved
