Question

You work for an energy exploration company in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. You have been asked to analyze the lowest cost options to move the oil that your company produces to refineries along the Atlantic coast in less than a week. What are your options?

Answer 1

Let us logically explore the solution to the captioned problem and analyse all the possible solutions for transportation of the oil produced by the company.

In this circumstance it is pertinent to note that we are having two storage factor. The primary one being time and the secondary being the expenditure for transportation of the product. It is also very important to understand that the final conclusion will be completely dependent on the availability of proper transportation capacity in the week time frame in which the decision is being made and can vary even from one time frame to another. With these things in mind let us analyse the possible transportation routes.

Primarily the cheapest way of transporting such huge quantities of oil should be made through the railway connecting both the places. In case to avail the captioned option. First the railway must be contacted on urgent basis to check the availability of transporting the required quantity of oil to the destination. Proper attention must be given to find out that the oil transportation will be completed within 7 days ( in most cases it can be expected that the oil will be successfully delivered in 7 days) . Railway also surely happens to be the safest way to transport the oil along the long track. Next in line the connecting point between the nearest rail station and the final destination must be covered by road for which proper road vehicles must be arranged in advance.

In case the above way faces challenge of time. Then in line the second option of transporting the oil through road must be opted for. This option will again be very cost friendly and a little extra payment to teh drivers can result them to deliver the oil at extreme efficient time and cost. Thus this is another wonderful way of transporting the oil. However there might be mild chances of accident on the road. This must be analysed and if required proper insurance cover of the oil must be taken from the insurance company to cover in case of theft and accident.