The West Coast has largely been left behind as the rest of the country enjoys the benefits of the shale boom, according to Dallas-based consultancy Turner, Mason and Co. (TMC).

“The buildout of midstream infrastructure linking the new crude production has been slower to materialize in the West Coast, and waterborne imports have remained at about the same level as in 2007,” the analysts observed in a recent research note. “This could change, though, as new rail, barge and marine projects targeted at the West Coast are being developed. Much uncertainty still remains regarding many of these projects; in large part, related to environmental-permitting issues.”

The rail industry has stepped up to the plate and provided logistical flexibility that has benefitted both producers and coastal refiners, according to the report.

In fact, more than 1 MMbbl/d of rail-unloading projects are either under construction or being planned—the vast majority on the West Coast—over the next two years.

“This is largely due to the fact that both the East Coast and Gulf Coast have already built up significant rail-unloading capacity. This (and in the case of significant new pipeline capacity to the Gulf Coast), has allowed those regions to displace most of their light waterborne imports,” it added.

California more than doubled the volume of oil it received by train in the first quarter as deliveries from Canada surged, data from the California Energy Commission (CEC) shows.

The third-largest oil-refining state unloaded 1.41 MMbbl/d in the first quarter, up from 693,457 bbl/d a year ago, the CEC said. Canadian deliveries comprised half the total and were eight times higher than 2013 shipments. Supplies from New Mexico jumped 71% to 173,081 bbl/d, and those from North Dakota slid 34% to 277,046 bbl/d.

U.S. West Coast refiners, including Tesoro Corp. and Valero Energy Corp., are developing projects to bring in more oil by rail from reserves across the middle of the U.S. and Canada to displace more expensive supplies, TMC analysts noted.

While drillers are extracting record volumes of oil from shale in states including North Dakota and Texas, crude production in PADD 5 (Petroleum Administration for Defense District), which includes Alaska and California, has fallen each year since 2002, the report observed.

The increased flows of domestic oil to California may reflect continuing improvement in crude-receiving facilities, but crude-by-rail shipments still account for a small fraction of the state’s oil demand. In February, California imported more than 20 MMbbl of crude from abroad, according to the EIA.

“Projects in California are having the most difficulty as opposition groups are using negative attitudes toward Canadian oil sands and recent rail incidents to lobby the public and regulators against approval,” TMC analysts wrote.

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