Railways to Distribute Ethanol in California

Shell Oil Products US (Shell), working together with The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF), a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, and Lomita Rail Terminal, a company in the U.S. Development Group announced an efficient means of providing the State of California with a continuous supply of ethanol through the BNSF Ethanol Express, a 95-car unit train used to move ethanol from a gathering location or single origin to a single destination.

Carson, California – December 10, 2003 [SolarAccess.com] U.S. Development owns and operates the ethanol unloading facility, located in Carson, California under the name of Lomita Rail Terminal. This facility will unload a full 95-car unit train in less than 24 hours and has the capacity to handle anticipated ethanol demand for the Los Angeles basin market. Shell owns and operates a light oil products terminal in Carson, California that is strategically situated to receive the ethanol as it is off-loaded at the Lomita Rail Terminal and shipped approximately 3 miles via a proprietary Shell pipeline where it is stored in tanks for further distribution via trucks and pipelines to surrounding light oil products terminals. “After making the decision to phase out MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) in January 2003, a year ahead of the Executive Order issued by former Governor Gray Davis, Shell realized the importance of developing a business arrangement that ensures an efficient, reliable source of ethanol will be supplied to California,” said Shell Oil Products US Vice President of Transportation Stacy Methvin. “Working with BNSF and U.S. Development, Shell is confident that the needs of our customers and the residents throughout the State will continue to be met.”