Boston, MA 07/22/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) subsidiary Monroe Energy LLC signed a five years agreement with Bridger, LLC to supply 65,000 barrels of domestic crude oil per day to its refinery in Trainer from Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. The low-cost domestic crude oil will replace the expensive crude mostly shipped from the overseas.
Delta’s Benefit
Delta aims to minimize the fuel costs, which are the main operating costs in the airline, to improve its operating efficiency and fleet services. So, to manage the costs of jet fuel, Delta partnered with Bridger. Delta believes that the partnership is a significant step as it supply one-third of the crude oil daily to its refinery.
Delta’s Monroe expects to supply domestic crude of 70,000 barrels per day from refinery including other sources. The partnership will further reduce the overall fuel costs and benefit the airline from fuel conservation, hedging program and improve the fleet efficiency.
Bridger – A midstream logistics service provider
Bridger has substantial capacity and infrastructure across the entire value-chain. It operates in 14 states and connects to major production basins and provides 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Recently, the logistics provider acquired 1,300 new railcars for $200 million to increase the fleet size and extend the services. The addition of new railcars will improve the infrastructure facility in the East Coast zone that can utilize to transport crude oil to Trainer.
Bridger will now link the domestic producers with the refineries through this partnership that will support and promote energy independence in the U.S.
Conclusion
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) continues to generate positive cash flow with increasing profitability. So, the airline primarily focuses to reduce the fuel costs either through buying larger low fuel consumption aircrafts for capacity addition or in partnership with midstream logistics provider to reduce fuel costs.
