By Thomas E. Knauff . . . You’ve worked hard to build a high-quality propane business. Over the years you have put the right team in place and grown the operation. The business meets your customers’ needs and provides a rewarding career. When you get to the stage of considering a personal exit strategy, one of your top concerns is how to ensure a smooth transition for “your baby”— to effect an ordered hand-off to a new owner who will keep your legacy intact and treat your employees and customers fairly. Networking with industry colleagues, you may hear horror stories from propane marketers who sold their businesses: The new owners came in and laid off employees; customer service declined and the complaints multiplied; workers who stayed...

The residential fueloil market in the U.S. is larger than the residential propane market, reports ICF International’s “2016 Propane Market Outlook,” with a reported 6.2 million households using the fuel for primary space heating in 2014 while 5.9 million used propane. However, nearly 240,000 homes convert from fueloil space heating each year. The majority switch to natural gas and electricity, but about 30,000 convert to propane. Moreover, in the past few years the propane industry has gained about the same number of customers from fueloil conversions every year as it has from new residential construction. Drivers affecting the fueloil market vary by state, but the main factors are duplicative: relatively high prices for fueloil compared to other fuels and increasing costs associated with the fuel’s...

Propane industry members and likely the rest of the U.S. remember the economic crisis of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus program. Dedicated propane projects, which started in 2009 and 2010 under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, received $33.5 million from the stimulus package, and that money funded more than 3500 propane vehicles in 28 states and more than 250 refueling stations in 18 states. Those programs are just now wrapping up — fueling stations are built and the propane vehicles have been manufactured and delivered. “Now the vehicles are just starting their lives of serving the fleets and driving,” national Clean Cities director Dennis Smith told BPN . “We’re doing data collection for several years to see how many miles...

Elkhart, IN, (Feb. 05, 2016) — Green Alternative Systems (GAS), provider for propane fleet conversions and compressed natural gas conversion in the United States, announced that due to the popularity of fleet conversion to propane autogas in both 2014 and 2015, GAS will be making considerable investments in areas that increase their propane autogas fleet conversion capacity. Green Alternative Systems currently operates a dozen facilities in the United States and stated that its newest service center is on track to open in Chicago in 2016. Green Alternative Systems converts thousands of vehicles each year to propane autogas, reducing costs for fleet managers as well as damage to the environment with cleaner-burning, American propane. A nation-wide network of service facilities ensures that fleet managers have ready...

As a result of the high cost of replacing bobtails and other vehicles, propane marketers are holding on to their vehicles longer. At the same time, these marketers are experiencing a shortage of drivers and must do what they can to attract and retain those employees. Benny Gay of Thompson Gas (Frederick, Md.) told BPN that although his company is not experiencing a driver shortage, propane marketers are spending extra money on aluminum decks and other features that help trucks last longer, especially in the colder climates where road salt can damage the truck body. ThompsonGas is also looking into adding automatic tire chain installers that allow the driver to deploy tire chains without having to step outside into the cold. ThompsonGas’ newly acquired Como...

Family-owned Hopatcong Gas Company, established in 1994 by Bill Sutphen as part of the family hardware store business, has merged with tri-state propane and fuel oil supplier, Combined Energy Services (CES), according to a Jan. 31, 2016 report in The New Jersey Herald. The Herald’s report said owner Bill Sutphen and his family opted to sell to a regional company, rather than a national one, because they thought it would be best for Hopatcong customers. “When you supply people for decades, they’re more than just customers — they’re friends and family,” the newspaper quoted Sherri Sutphen Norlander, a Hopatcong manager, as saying. "We've known Combined Energy Services, their people and the Taylors for a long time and knew they would take care of our customers...

(January 18, 2016) DHL, one of the world’s leading international express services provider, announced that it moved into a new service center in Memphis that will serve the tri-state area of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The $2.5 million investment was driven by the company’s current and forecasted shipment growth from local businesses trading internationally as well as e-commerce shipping. The new service center features a large customer counter, expanded parking lot, and several dozen pick-up and delivery vehicles fueled by clean, safe and economical propane autogas. DHL moved from an 11,000-square foot facility to the new 30,000-square foot facility, which can process more than 2,500 shipments per hour. It is located adjacent to the Memphis International Airport, and operates as the local center for pick-up,...

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Jan. 20, 2016) – AltaGas Ltd. announced yesterday that a sublease and related agreements have been signed with Ridley Terminals Inc. (“Ridley Terminals”) to develop, build, own and operate the proposed Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal, to be located on Ridley Island near Prince Rupert, British Columbia on a portion of lands leased by Ridley Terminals from the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The agreements are an important first step for beginning the regulatory and engagement phases of the project. The proposed Facility will be designed to ship up to 1.2 million tonnes of propane per year and will be constructed by AltaGas. It will be built on a brownfield site with a history of industrial development, connections to existing rail lines and an existing...

COLUMBIA, MO (January 14, 2016) – MFA Oil Company, the seventh largest propane retailer in the United States, announced it has acquired R&S Propane, Inc., a propane supplier based in Dibble, Okla. The acquisition strengthens MFA Oil’s position in central Oklahoma. “This purchase gives us a good entry point into the nearby Norman and Oklahoma City markets and fits well with our existing operations in Oklahoma,” says Mark Fenner, MFA Oil president and CEO. “We look forward to integrating R&S Propane’s assets into our company and continuing to work with their customers to see that their propane service needs are met.” This is MFA Oil’s third acquisition of its fiscal year, which began September 1, 2015. Previous acquisitions for the current fiscal year included Lybarger...