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