Oil production in the United States is not only flourishing, it is being heavily bolstered by the productivity from the fields in the Uintah Basin and here in eastern Utah.
According to a press release, Price River Terminal, a crude-by-rail facility that opened in Wellington in December 2013, is now the only facility in eastern Utah capable of shipping unit trains of crude oil. This rail provides direct access to both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads, which in turn allows easy access to refineries throughout the country, opening up markets previously unavailable to the area.
Currently, the facility is being expanded to include automated truck unloading racks and tankage. According to Carbon County Director of Emergency Services Jason Llewelyn, this expansion will potentially bring an additional 500 trucks through Carbon County.
According to the press release, PRT has plans for further expansion for transloading of dry bulk commodities such as frac sand, pipe, oil field equipment, building products and other materials to support the drilling industry.
According to PRT’s website, Carbon County’s proximity to the oil fields allows for more efficiency and reduces the number of trucks using busy Salt Lake City corridors. PRT’s unit train transloading operation is also able to ship greater quantities to refineries faster and cheaper.