Sustainability: ‘Every day and in everything we do’

“Sustainability” has become an industry focus over the past few years.

But for USD Group, it’s not a word to be thrown around lightly. While the term may have recently emerged in the mainstream, it’s always been a core part of USD. USD delivers sustainable solutions every day and in everything it does.

Sustainable solutions deliver superior value because they improve quality of life, reduce negative impacts on the environment and are economically advantaged. When there is market transformation or constraints, USD strives to deliver innovative, sustainable solutions.

For example, working across the value chain with ConocoPhillips, Canadian Pacific, Kansas City Southern and Gibson Energy, USD developed its revolutionary Diluent Recovery Unit (DRU). USD’s proprietary DRU technology, which has been deployed at its joint venture terminal near Hardisty, Alberta, removes added diluent from the bitumen, creating an approximately 95-percent bitumen product called DRUbit⢠that can be delivered by rail as a nonhazardous, non-flammable product with approximately 20-percent to 30-percent reduced carbon intensity per barrel of delivered bitumen (compared to alternatives by rail and pipeline). It’s currently the lowest-cost-competing alternative for delivered Canadian bitumen, saves customers money by returning diluent to the supply near the DRU and provides feedstock at destination that allows value-added custom blending for the refiner. This is sustainability in action.

USD is also proud to have a new sustainable business: USD Clean Fuels LLC. The company began delivering transitional energy services long ago to solve constraints in ethanol markets, solutions that continue today. USD Clean Fuels addresses renewable diesel, a clean fuel solution that state and federal governments are pursuing through mandates and incentives to transition to cleaner energy alternatives. USD supports that transition by facilitating rail-delivered renewable diesel to be distributed to local markets. USD Clean Fuels’ origin and destination solutions continue the legacy of delivering sustainable solutions.

Critical to successfully delivering sustainable solutions is the close relationship between USD and Railserve, a Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. In a relationship spanning over 20 years, USD leverages the expertise of Railserve to operate its facilities and collaborate on best-practice operating standards that result in best-in-class operations. This relationship exemplifies sustainability by providing long-term, quality jobs for employees who live and work in local communities, achieving outstanding safety and environmental performance, and leveraging the respective strengths of the organizations in development and operations.

These examples demonstrate USD’s commitment to providing sustainable solutions through innovation while also creating superior value and facilitating supply chains to meet society’s needs. USD develops economic solutions that improve the status quo for people and the environment. USD strives to fulfill its commitments with action and by offering its preferred solutions “every day and in everything we do.”

For more information, visit www.usdg.com or call (281) 291-0510.