A new Port Arthur, Texas, unit train terminal is being planned to ship heavy sour crudes from Western Canada to the US Gulf Coast refining hub. Project partners Global Partners and Kansas City Southern said Tuesday that the terminal, which does not have a firm start date yet pending regulatory approvals, will initially handle two unit trains a day and have 340,000 barrels of oil storage. Unit trains have up to 120 rail cars with the capacity to haul up to 72,000 barrels of oil. US refiners have shown a preference recently for Western Canadian heavy sour crudes shipped by rail because of their low diluent content, ranging from close to zero up to 5% diluent. Canadian heavy sour crude shipments by pipeline require up to 15% diluent in the summer months and up to 33% diluent in winter. In addition, because the US has permitted re-exports of Canadian […]