U.S. rail delivery of petroleum and petroleum products was up 20.2 percent last week from the same period in 2013, the American Association of Railroads said. The AAR said Thursday 13,967 carloads of petroleum and petroleum products, or about 9.77 million barrels of oil, were delivered on the U.S. rail system for the week ending Jan. 2. An accelerating pace of oil production in the United States has placed a burden on pipeline capacity, industry officials say. U.S. oil production has increased, in part, because of gains from states including Texas and North Dakota. Last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. oil production was 7.5 million barrels per day, a 1 million bpd increase from the previous year. AAR Senior Vice President John Gray said a mixed report for the delivery of other commodity groups, including grain and non-metallic minerals, indicate the […]