Cogent Energy Solutions LLC is partnering with Granite Peak Development LLC, the owner of the hub, to build the facility that will provide storage for an initial capacity of 900,000 barrels of crude with the possibility of expanding to three million barrels. The initial capacity will probably be divvied into 150,000-barrel tanks, according to Cogent President Randy Balhorn.
The facility will also allow trains to load various grades of crude oil with blending offered onsite. It will be capable of loading two 118-car trains simultaneously with different grades of crude on dual 6,000-foot loops.
Granite Peak has voiced its excitement for the project.
Though Balhorn said he doesn't know how many jobs the project will bring to the hub as of now, it will employ construction workers temporarily and open some permanent positions as well.
"The Casper location has long been targeted for this type of asset because of its proximity to pipelines carrying Canadian and domestic crudes as well as local production," Balhorn said in a release.
BNSF Railway will service the facility, and touts it as a way for producers to exploit flexible and economic rail shipping for oil to key markets along the nation's coasts and the Mississippi River.
Balhorn told the Business Report that BNSF has "been a real leader" in getting such facilities on the ground. In fact, the announcement comes riding up the track behind a similar announcement late last month from Casper-based Eighty Eight Oil LLC. The company expects to build a similar terminal by the end of the year in Guernsey that should create 25 to 30 jobs there. That will also load oil onto BNSF trains.
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