U.S. regulators need more data from the energy sector about oil train cargoes, a senior Department of Transportation official said, as officials work on how to move such freight more safely by rail after recent accidents. Specifically, regulators want individual test results that underpin an industry report on fuel from North Dakota’s Bakken energy patch, according to Cynthia Quarterman, head of DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). “What method of sample selection and collection was used?” Quarterman said in a letter to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the leading trade group for the refining sector. On Wednesday, association chief Charlie Drevna said his group “looks forward to sitting down with the administrator to address her concerns.” The transport of oil by rail is on the rise due to fracking in North Dakota and drilling in Canada’s Alberta tar sands. Oil train cargoes have been under scrutiny since a shipment derailed in Lac Megantic, Quebec, last July killing 47 people in an explosion. Last week, the AFPM issued a self-funded report that concluded fuel shipments from North Dakota region are rightly classed as “flammable liquid” and that shippers are appropriately following rules for hazardous materials. While some Bakken fuel samples were found to carry a large share of flammable gas, they did not contain so much that special handling is required, the trade group said. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx earlier this year asked for the industry’s help in understanding possible dangers of Bakken fuel. The AFPM study involved roughly 1,400 samples collected over three weeks ending in early March. (Reuters)