MERCADOS Y OPERACIONES DE TUBERÍAS DE ACEITE

OIL PIPELINE MARKETS AND OPERATIONS

INTRODUCTION

Imagine the ideal freight transportation system

of the future: merchandise would flow to market

through an extensive system of underground

conduits, leaving the nation’s highways safer

and less busy as a result. From a few highly

automated control rooms scattered around the

nation, operators would receive merchandise

from manufacturers and guide it safely along

the most economical corridors available using

the latest technologies. The physical activities

of loading, transporting, and unloading would

be fully automated and performed remotely from

the control rooms. With advanced monitoring

and scheduling technology, in-transit damage

to the merchandise would be minimal and truck

traffi c accidents would be virtually nonexistent.

The few people operating the control rooms

would be primarily mechanical or civil engineers

and information technology specialists. With

no visible presence to the general public, few

employees, and virtually no accidents, such a

transportation system would have such a low

profi le that the general public would be unaware

of its existence. Such a system would “run silent,

run deep,” as stated in the title of the well-known

1958 Clark Gable movie.

Such a futuristic system exists today. The

conduits are the U.S. crude oil and refined

products pipelines. The merchandise is many

hundred types of crude oil and refi ned products.

The shippers include thousands of oil companies,

brokers, traders, independent wholesalers (called

jobbers), airlines, railroads, and merchandisers

such as Wal-Mart, Costco, and Kroger. But

because of its very low public profi le, many

transportation professionals are only dimly

aware of its existence.

Beyond the petroleum industry, pipelines

move natural gas, anhydrous ammonia, carbon

dioxide, and bulk chemicals. Also coal, iron ore,

and copper are moved by slurry pipeline (i.e., as

small particles in an aqueous solution). There

is a growing literature and interest surrounding

slurry, pneumatic, and capsule pipelines

(Marrero, 2004; Zandi, 1982; and Round, 2003).

However, this paper confi nes itself to pipeline

movements of crude oil and refi ned products.

The goal of this article is to position the

oil pipeline industry more thoroughly with the

other transport modes. It begins with an overview

of pipelines. Then, the nature of their fi t with

the oil markets is discussed. Next, the current

competitive structure of the industry is described.

Finally pipeline operations are compared

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