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Feature Articles

In-depth feature stories examining the trends, challenges and innovations shaping the propane and LPG industry.

  • Growth Forecast For 2018 Propane Vehicle Sales To Add 36.8 Million Propane Gallons

    WASHINGTON (May 2, 2018) – More than 13,000 propane autogas fleet vehicles were sold in 2017, according to data compiled by the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). The new vehicles will annually consume approximately 36.8 million gallons of clean propane autogas, and many will be displacing fuels with higher emissions like gasoline and diesel. While the 13,045 propane autogas vehicles sold in 2017 were down slightly from the previous year (14,045 were sold in 2016), the relatively flat sales are actually signaling to industry officials that more propane autogas growth is around the corner. “Propane autogas overcame significant challenges in 2017 — from the absence of federal incentives for alternative fuels from the federal government, to incredibly low gasoline and diesel prices throughout much…
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  • Energy Distribution Partners Expands Footprint Into Pacific Northwest

    (May 2, 2018) Energy Distribution Partners (“EDP”), based in Chicago, Illinois, has acquired a privately-owned propane marketer that operates in four counties in the greater Seattle area under the names Kitsap Propane and Jefferson Propane. The companies, owned by Larry Brooke and his wife Leah Henry, provide propane and propane equipment to residential and commercial customers in Kitsap, Jefferson, Mason and Clallam Counties. The primary service area is in Kitsap and Jefferson Counties, west of the Puget Sound. The Brookes launched Kitsap Propane in 2006 and significantly expanded the business since then, adding Jefferson Propane in recent years. The combined operations serve more than 4,500 customers today. “Leah and I are extremely pleased to transition our company to the team at EDP,” said Larry Brooke….
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  • Two Federal Funding Opportunities For Propane Autogas Vehicles

    (May 2, 2018) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will award approximately $40 million in competitive grant funding for the Diesel Emissions Reductions Act (DERA) Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. The Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program is soliciting proposals nationwide for projects that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions in terms of the tons of pollution produced and harmful exposure, particularly from fleets operating in regions designated by the Administrator as poor air quality areas. The EPA is hosting the following Information Session regarding Request for Proposals: Info Session Date Webinar Link Conference Line Thursday, May 3, 20183:00 – 4:30 p.m. (ET) http://epawebconferencing.acms.com/dera18b/ (202) 991-0477Code: 4149804# The DERA program is aimed at reducing emissions of diesel engines and vehicles through a variety of means, including complete…
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  • Free 3-Day Virtual Conference Hosted By National Small Business Week

    https://www.bpnews.com/index.php/publications/magazine/feature-articles/1564-free-national-small-business-week-3-day-virtual-conference
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  • LPGA Joins Coalition—Supports Louisiana Energy Industry

    With an eye toward inching advocacy contra to energy and petrochemical industry development, the Louisiana Propane Gas Association (LPGA) has signed on as an inaugural member of a coalition launched to support oil and gas. Allies of the burgeoning energy economy have founded Louisianians for Energy, a grass-roots effort aimed at defending development and the myriad economic benefits it creates for Bayou State communities. Louisianians for Energy comments that the energy industry has long been a pillar of the state economy, providing good-paying jobs, generating millions of dollars in revenue for local economies, and producing the energy resources that consumers across the country rely upon each and every day. Noted is that the industry employs more than 100,000 Louisianians, as reported in the U.S. Department…
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  • ThompsonGas CEO George Koloroutis Announces Retirement

    (Frederick, Maryland) April 30, 2018 — ThompsonGas, one of the nation’s top propane companies, announced today the pending retirement of Chief Executive Officer, George Koloroutis. Koloroutis joined the ThompsonGas family six years ago in February of 2012 . “George has been absolutely instrumental in driving growth at ThompsonGas,” said CFO Dave Franchak. “With George at the helm, our company has gone from a Mid-Atlantic propane marketer to a national propane distributor. His insight and leadership will certainly be missed. We wish him all the best in his retirement.” Under the leadership of Koloroutis, ThompsonGas has undergone a tremendous transformation, growing annual sales over 500%. Today, ThompsonGas now serves more than 125,000 customers in 18 states. Koloroutis has enjoyed a long and fruitful career in the…
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  • The Times They Are A-Changin’

    By JD Buss… “Widespread daily record low temperatures and record cold high temperatures were set from Dec. 27, 2017 to Jan. 7, 2018,” per the Weather Channel. Some specific stats from this past winter: 1. New York City set a record low for the first seven days of January, averaging 16.4ºF. 2. Pittsburgh broke the 1879 record of the coldest first week of January. 3. Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C. saw their coldest first week of the year, breaking the 1887 record. 4. New Orleans tied its coldest first week of the year. The map from the Southeast Regional Climate Center highlights the extreme cold temperatures for a strong portion of the Eastern U.S. in the first week of January. To propane retailers, this weather pattern might have signaled the…
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  • Dixie Pipeline Hydrostatic Testing Starts May 1st, Line to Shut Down

    (April 23, 2018) — Enterprise Products (Houston) said April 16 that Dixie Pipeline hydrostatic testing will commence May 1, 2018. The line will be shut down and product in the line will be evacuated over the course of several days. Terminals east of Hattiesburg, Miss. will have limited product after testing begins and will be constrained by storage on hand at each terminal. Dixie Pipeline distribution personnel can advise wholesale customers on the availability of product at each terminal after the project has begun. Enterprise Products said it is advisable that customers make plans to fill their primary storages before testing begins. When storages at Demopolis, Ala.; Opelika, Ala.; Milner, Ga.; Lexington, S.C.; Cheraw, S.C.; Albany, Ga.; and Alma, Ga. are emptied there will not…
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  • Competition Arrives in Grand Cayman, Monopoly No More

    The launch of a startup company on Grand Cayman breaks a 60-year propane monopoly on the Caribbean isle. With phase one construction complete, Clean Gas Ltd. received its license to sell from the Utility Regulation and Competition Office in March, one of the final hurdles for pushing a head-to-head rivalry with the British overseas territory’s only other propane provider. “Cayman is a unique market where a single propane company has enjoyed 60 years of unencumbered bliss by being the only propane marketer in the Cayman Islands,” says operations manager Dayne Brady. “A group of born and raised Caymanian investors has taken on the challenge of trying to reduce the cost of living in Cayman by creating competition in the market, and it is working. Before…
    Read More →: Competition Arrives in Grand Cayman, Monopoly No More

  • Benefits of Propane Promoted at Recent Work Truck Show

    Brian Donahue of Donahue Gas (Anderson, Ind.) was one of many retail propane marketers to volunteer in the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) booth during The Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, last March 2018. Occupying the entire Indiana Convention Center, The Work Truck Show draws thousands from all over to see and learn about the latest offerings for work trucks of all types. “I’m happy to come over and help because I want people to know how far propane has come as an alternative fuel for vehicles,” Donahue explained. “We’re a long way from the 1980s, before the days of fuel injection. We’ve gone from the bag phone to the cell phone. It’s important for people to see a large contingent of propane people…
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  • ROUSH CleanTech Receives CARB Certification for Propane Engines

    ROUSH CleanTech (Livonia, Mich.) has received the Environmental Protection Agency’s and the California Air Resources Board’s heavy duty-onboard diagnostics (HD-OBD) certification for all its engines. Until the 2018 model year, alternative fuel vehicles had been exempt from the certification, but are now held to the same requirements as gasoline vehicles. “Vehicles powered by a fuel other than gasoline or diesel should no longer be considered alternative,” said ROUSH CleanTech president Todd Mouw. “As shown by the regulatory agencies’ decisions to require all fuels [be included] in its HD-OBD certification, propane autogas and others like compressed natural gas are moving into the mainstream.” ROUSH explains that the HD-OBD certification applies to all vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of more than 14,000 lb. Onboard…
    Read More →: ROUSH CleanTech Receives CARB Certification for Propane Engines

  • Multi-day Severe Weather, Isolated Tornadoes Across Central, Southern US

    https://www.bpnews.com/index.php/publications/magazine/feature-articles/1552-multi-day-severe-outbreak-isolated-tornadoes-across-central-southern-us
    Read More →: Multi-day Severe Weather, Isolated Tornadoes Across Central, Southern US

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