North Dakota to require every barrel of crude oil be filtered

North Dakota is poised to impose the strictest oil standards in its history on Tuesday, requiring every barrel of crude to be filtered for dangerous types of natural gas in an effort to make crude-by-rail transport safer. The new requirements come as federal, state and local officials grapple with how best to ensure the safe transport of North Dakota's crude oil, which has been linked to a string of fiery crude-by-rail explosions, including one last year in Quebec that killed 47 people. Because most of the oil extracted in the United States via hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as "fracking," is transported on rail and because North Dakota is the second-largest oil-producing state after Texas, the new standards will have a ripple effect throughout the nation. At its core, the standards will require crude extracted from the state's shale formations - more than 1.1 million barrels per day - to be processed through machinery set at mandated temperatures and pressures, which the NDIC believes will remove the most amounts of propane, butane and other volatile natural gas liquids (NGLs) naturally found in oil. Some producers do this now; the NDIC aims to make all comply...more