Oil-by-rail shipments to California plunged 69 percent last year compared with 2014, according to state data released on Jan. 28.
The California Energy Commission said California received 1,762,369 barrels of crude via train last year, or 4,828 barrels per day. That is down from 5,737,081 barrels in 2014, or 15,718 bpd.
The tally fell throughout the year, starting at a high of 11,061 bpd in January to 949 bpd in December, the data showed.
Total amounts for both years are less than 1 percent of the average 1.7 million bpd of crude processed by California refineries. The highest amount moved by rail to the state in any month remains 1.18 million barrels, or 38,085 bpd, in December 2013, CEC data show.
In late 2014, oil-by-rail volumes began declining as oil prices fell and discounts of U.S. crudes to global crudes narrowed, siphoning profitability of moving crude via train.
The CEC data shows that most 2015 crude shipments to California came from New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, and Utah shipments stopped in July. The state has not received rail shipments of North Dakota Bakken crude since October 2014, and none from Canada since August 2014.
Opposition to crude-by-rail terminals in California has been strong after a string of fiery crude train crashes since mid-2013, and proposed projects have faced long delays for comprehensive environmental reviews.
Next week the San Luis Obispo County planning commission will consider a permit for a rail offloading project at Phillips 66's Santa Maria refinery in Arroyo Grande, California, but the commission's staff recommended it be rejected.
The Benicia Planning Commission will hold a similar hearing on Feb. 8 for a similar project at Valero Energy Corp's refinery there.
Both companies originally proposed those projects in 2013.
The drop in oil prices - down 69 percent since mid-2014 - led WesPac Energy last month to scrap plans for a San Francisco-are oil terminal because too few customers were willing to commit to volumes. WesPac had already cut the project's rail component to the project because of hefty opposition.
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