Transportation news briefs, Mar. 1

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co., Fort Worth, Tex., has agreed to provide rail transportation service to Dow Chemical Co. for its petrochemicals plant in Seadrift, Tex., 120 miles southwest of Houston. BNSF will also build a 7-mile rail line from Kamey to Seadrift to serve Dow.

The Canadian National Energy Board approved an application by Murphy Canada Exploration Ltd. to construct and operate the Chinchaga Sales Gas Pipeline Loop in Northern British Columbia and Alberta. The 10.3-mile loop of 12-in. line will cost $4.7 million (Can.) and will run from Pioneer Natural Resources Canada Inc. facilities in the Chinchaga area of British Columbia to the PNRC compressor station 80 miles northwest of Manning, Alta.

Fortum Sverige AB has sold 54,955 dwt gas carrier Baltic Flame to Norwegian shipping company Westfal-Larsen & Co. AS. Baltic Flame has operated as a liquefied petroleum gas carrier mainly between the Middle East, Japan, and China. The carrier can load 75,000 cu m of LPG. The vessel will be renamed Nordanger.

Westcoast Energy Inc., Vancouver, BC, is considering expanding the southern portion of its natural gas pipeline network because of growing demand for gas in the US Pacific Northwest. Doug Haughey, president of Westcoast�s pipeline division, said the company�s mainline transportation facilities, with the exception of some service in the Fort St. John, BC area, are fully contracted.