Warren Buffett Bought The Right Railroad
The last time we hit that mark was in 1989, according to oil markets guru Stephen Schork.
One of the major beneficiaries of this surge has been the railroad industry, he writes.
And among all rail companies, BNSF may be best positioned to take advantage of shipments of crude from America's oil boom.
Three years ago, of course, Warren Buffett bought BNSF railroad for $26 billion.
It's looking like a wise investment.
“We’re the 1,000-pound gorilla in the oil markets,” BNSF CEO Matt Rose told Bloomberg. “Crude by rail is going to be really strong for us. It’s been a real benefit to us to replace some of that lost coal business.”
The company says it will boost crude-oil shipments by 40 percent this year, to 700,000 barrels per day, Bloomberg reports.
Schork points out that in declines in rail shipments across the industry of coal are being offset by shipments of crude.
Whereas year-on-year coal movement’s in November 2012 were down 10½%, shipments of oil were up by 45% and shipments of crushed stone, gravel, sand (as in, fracking sand) were up by 7.8%.
BNSF's raw material volumes were little changed in 2012 as competitors posted declines, based on Association of American Railroads data, Bloomberg said.