Crude-by-rail data gains in value for traders

As an increasing volume of crude oil is transported via North America’s railroads, market participants are growing hungry for data and market intelligence on crude-by-rail. Such insight had been in short supply, until recently. Alexander Osipovich reports

It was late in the afternoon on August 20, 2013, another punishingly hot summer day in the small town of Stroud, Oklahoma. At 5:42pm, a train pulled into one of the town's industrial facilities, a receiving terminal for the Hawthorn oil pipeline. Nearby, a camera was watching.

The camera sent images of the 100-car train to the headquarters of Genscape, a Louisville-based company that publishes real-time data on physical energy flows. There, analysts monitored the train and watched as it