Petroleum and Petroleum Products

The Great Lakes basin’s third largest commodity group is petroleum and crude petroleum products. The Great Lakes System is a vital conduit for petroleum products in this area. Many basin cities are not connected to the nation petroleum product pipeline network and therefore depend on petroleum tankers/barges as a low cost means for delivery of liquid fuels. Tankers/Barges typically serve areas such as most of the Great Lake States and also supplement petroleum fuel pipeline delivery to areas such as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Duluth-Superior and Montreal. Due to their physical properties, asphalt and residual fuel oil cannot move by pipeline. For these products, tankers/barges are the most cost-effective means of delivery.