TAYLOR, Mich. - Atlas Oil Company has opened its fourth transloading site €" the second site dedicated to crude oil €" in Monahans, Texas. The site is 30 miles from Atlas€™ Odessa site and is located off the TNMR railroad.

"The Monahans location offers plenty of room for expansion, with more than 75 acres of land. It is also optimally located in the heart of major crude oil exploration and production near the Delaware and Permian basins. We are really excited to be in the right place at the right time," said Bob Kenyon, executive vice president of sales and business development, in a press release.

Atlas uses its portable Lease Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) units to transfer the crude onto rail cars to be distributed to the refineries in the Gulf Coast and other markets served by rail. Traditionally, crude oil is transported to the refinery through pipelines, but the recent production boom has required additional capacity. Atlas' answer to the capacity constraint was to develop a virtual pipeline through a combination of rail, transloading and trucking that has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective solution.

"We are here for the long-term," said Sam Simon, CEO and owner of Atlas Oil Company. "Our focus on customers leads us to providing innovative solutions to satisfy customer needs. As this market continues to grow, we will be a top player."

The Monahans site currently has 15 employees with 6-8 dedicated to crude operations. Atlas is leasing this site and has exclusive rights to transload crude in this location. Atlas' crude transloading business has grown 750% over the past three years. Atlas has two other transloading facilities, which handle renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. They are located in Albuquerque, N.M., and La Feria, Texas.