Author

John Needham

  • Feature Articles

    U.S. Is World’s Largest LPG Exporter, But When Will Market Balance?

    The U.S. now stands as the No. 1 LPG exporter in the world. Gulf Coast operators alone shipped about a half-million barrels of propane nearly every day last year, up 40% from 2014. Many of those waterborne cargos left the nation’s shores on very large gas carriers (VLGCs), each with the ability to carry a minimum of 550,000 bbl. Most of those vessels loaded propane and butane at terminals near Houston or Nederland, Texas, discharging their cargos as nearby as Latin America and the Caribbean but as far away as Japan and China. Nearly 27 MMbbl of propane left the U.S. in January, the latest data available, along with another 2.7 MMbbl of butane, reports the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). Propane exports grew 15.4%...

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  • Feature Articles

    13 Tons of Leno’s Lovingly Restored Americana

    Advance steam traction engines turned soil, planted and harvested, hauled, and performed numerous other tough jobs that required power and mobility. Their furiously spinning flywheels ran auxiliary, belt-driven apparatus such as sawmills, all driven by a single, steam-propelled piston that powered tractors to a top speed of about 4 mph. A 1906 Advance engine, all 13 beautiful tons of it, has been lovingly restored by Orman Rawlings, a friend of comedian and steam power enthusiast Jay Leno. Manufactured by the Advance Threshing Machine Co. of Battle Creek, Mich., the engine was featured in an episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage.” “Four miles an hour may not sound like much, but four miles an hour in this thing will scare you to death,” says the long-time “Tonight...

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  • Feature Articles

    A Lackluster Winter, But Prepare for What’s Around the Corner

    Exiting what has been described as the worst December on record for the propane industry, and generally a winter heating season that has not been exciting, marketers are nonetheless being cautioned to prepare for changes that could be just around the corner. Propane inventories in the U.S. are much higher than domestic demand requires, a major reason why exports are soaring. But production levels and stockpiles must remain elevated in order to maintain U.S. propane’s lower-price advantage over other exporters, thereby maintaining American waterborne arbitrage. And high volumes in primary storage, especially on the Gulf Coast, can be drawn down quickly when exports ramp up. Plus, the ability to ship even more from U.S. shores is coming online. Kicking off the National Propane Gas Association’s...

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  • Record Inventory, Natural Gas Expansion Current Board Topics

    While the propane industry’s fuel supply situation looks amazing headed into the heating season, proposed subsidized natural gas expansions backed by deep-pocketed political donors are causing headaches in some states. The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) Board of Directors, meeting in New Orleans Oct. 4-6, received confirmation of what is already widely known, that primary U.S. propane stocks are sky high, and also that they’re expected to remain so well into 2016. At the same time, NPGA is working with state associations under its State Engagement Initiative to combat natural gas expanding into so called unserved or underserved areas using ratepayer funds. In a presentation to the association’s Supply & Logistics Committee, Debnil Chowdhury, director and manager of North American natural gas liquids at IHS,...

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  • Forecast Calls for Plenty of Cheap Winter Propane, But Closely Eye Exports and Petrochemical Demand

    Record high and still-climbing inventories, sturdier transportation and storage infrastructure, and lessons learned are prompting optimism that the nation is in a much better position today to weather a repeat of the perfect storm experienced in winter 2013-2014. That nightmare heating season, characterized by a supply and logistics outlook that morphed from good to bad in a heartbeat, is unlikely to replay, yet remains fresh in the memory of the propane industry. Rather, with increasing production near demand regions and better pipeline and rail connectivity, as the nation heads into winter 2015-2016 the retail propane industry is in an excellent position to navigate the uncertain waters of today’s energy markets, noted Houston-based RBN Energy in a presentation July 14 at a meeting of the Propane...

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  • CHS Advances Infrastructure Buildout as Other Projects Stall

    Even as other propane infrastructure projects stall and flounder nationwide, CHS Inc. (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) is successfully following through on its 2013 pledge to bulk-up propane system architecture, especially for customers whose supplies were severely compromised by the reallocation of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners’ Cochin pipeline last year. In its latest move, the company, which markets and distributes propane under the Cenex brand, in May launched a strategic alliance with San Antonio, Texas-based NuStar Energy LP to develop an expanded pipeline and terminal network to increase supply in the Upper Midwest. CHS, a leading farmer-owned cooperative with global energy, grains, and food businesses and significant propane operations in the Midwest and across the nation, said it would increase supply to meet product demand in...

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  • ‘The Great Oil Deflation’ — The Energy Ties That Bind

    It’s axiomatic that crude oil prices influence propane prices. So it follows that lower crude values are impacting propane, not only its price, but also its attractiveness as a petrochemical feedstock versus ethane and naphtha. Those realities were underscored at the National Propane Gas Association’s (NPGA) winter board meeting Feb. 8-10 in San Diego, Calif. With crude oil hovering near $50/bbl, off more than 50% from last summer’s highs, Debnil Chowdhury of IHS reported to NPGA’s Supply and Logistics Committee, laying out the reasons behind, and the response to, what the consultancy is referring to as “the great oil deflation.” Oil market focus in 2014 shifted from geopolitical risks to weak market fundamentals as crude prices fell more than 50% since mid-June 2014. Libya’s production...

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