| Since the time of the first commercially drilled oil | | | | valuable component of the oil supply chain today, |
| operation in the 1800s, oil has become a resource of | | | | though it is no longer the primary means of transporting |
| astronomical importance to the modern society of the | | | | large volumes of oil. |
| United States. Along with the soaring demand for oil | | | | As more oil fields began to be discovered and |
| arrived the need for an efficient means of storing and | | | | produced, technological advances also allowed for |
| transporting this valuable resource to the homes and | | | | increasing amounts of oil to be produced from |
| industrial facilities which use it for energy and the | | | | producing reservoirs. The limited amount of oil that |
| production of a multitude of consumer products. | | | | could be transported at once made large volume |
| Today, oil is discovered and produced from the earth | | | | tanker truck shipments uneconomical for transporting |
| in large quantities by companies such as Western | | | | mass amounts of oil. With increasing volumes of oil |
| Pipeline Corporation and transported to refineries, | | | | being produced, the demand for an efficient means of |
| where it is treated and transported once again to | | | | transporting large quantities of the resource became |
| residential and industrial consumers. Oil may be | | | | apparent, and the notion of using pipelines as a means |
| transported for thousands of miles by pipeline, truck, | | | | of transporting oil evolved. |
| tanker, barge, train, or a combination of these means | | | | As pipelines have become the most efficient means |
| before it reaches its final destination. The transportation | | | | of transporting oil over long distances, they have also |
| of oil is a highly specialized operation which requires | | | | become safer and more technologically advanced. |
| meticulous coordination among the various levels of | | | | Pipelines now facilitate the transport of crude oil over |
| the supply chain. | | | | vast distances, traversing rugged mountains, valleys |
| In the 1940s, custom built tanker trucks were the | | | | and rivers and utilizing precisely engineered pump |
| primary means of transporting oil from the site of | | | | systems to regulate the movement of products |
| production to refineries, where it could be refined or | | | | through them. |
| shipped to further destinations via railroad. Tankers | | | | Today, over 100,000 miles of pipeline transport foreign |
| which transport oil have since become increasingly | | | | and domestic crude oil throughout the United States to |
| complex, as have the requirements for the operators | | | | meet the extensive demand for products such as |
| who drive them. The use of tanker trucks remains a | | | | gasoline and electricity. |