Bay Area Crude Oil-By-Rail Shipments Halted After Price Per Barrel Drops Sharply February 17, 2015 11:03 PM Christin Ayers Christin Ayers is a general assignment reporter fo…

RICHMOND (CBS SF) — The low price of oil has prompted an energy company to halt the transportation by rail of Bakken crude through the Bay Area. KPIX 5 learned that the trains have been abruptly halted after crude oil prices dropped sharply, making it less cost effective to transport. The Tesoro refinery in Martinez had been ordering the more expensive and more explosive grade of crude. The last train carrying Bakken crude oil passed through the Bay Area on November 22nd. Richmond Fire Marshal Terry Harris said the city was glad to hear of the development, saying, “It relaxes everyone so that we know the product is not coming into the city.” Train cars carrying Bakken crude derailed in West Virginia Monday, sparking a massive fire. Harris’ firefighters are preparing for a possible derailment if trains begin carrying the oil when prices rise again. “It just erupts in a ball of fire, so we [would be] trying to cool the cars within that 25-30 minutes,” Harris said.