A company called Crimson Pipeline is working with Shell to acquire its oil pipeline through the San Joaquin Valley. The line is one of three that move oil from the Valley to Bay Area refineries. Crimson already owns one of the others - so the purchase (in addition to safety issues discussed in this KQED article) would give Crimson effective control over pipeline capacity and pricing in the area.

In addition to refineries griping at the PUC about the deal, independent oil producers are worried about Crimson raising prices or simply shutting down one of the pipelines reducing capacity. Oil producers are worried that they might have to truck oil to the refineries if the pipeline becomes unavailable - raising prices.

So ... what about resurrecting the Oil Cans, but this time running from Bakersfield to Martinez and Benicia? They'd have to be heated or insulated, since most California Central Valley crude needs to be hot to flow (it's basically light asphalt).