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Feature Articles

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

  • Mentoring: The Key to Talent Management

    By Liz Selzer… Mentoring is a powerful tool for developing your staff and ultimately your organization. This is especially true when jobs are tight and people are being asked to take on more tasks and step into more roles than ever. Organizations have seen dramatic improvements in their workforce, such as increased employee engagement, better organizational communication, and the growth in appreciation of people’s strengths that leads to higher organizational performance. Mentoring does not need to be a complicated process or program. In fact, within certain parameters and given good preparation, it is one of the most basic, organic forms of training available. Through the encouragement mentoring provides, your staff members are more engaged, they see that their efforts matter, and they are happy to…
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  • Tech Firm Celebrates 45th Anniversary Serving Energy Distribution Industry

    Flanders, NJ (February 22, 2018) – Forty-five years ago in 1973 Advanced Digital Data® or ADD Systems® began as a one-man operation. Throughout the decades, ADD (Advanced Digital Data) Systems has grown its business from a “one-man show” into a company that today includes four national office locations, a staff of 160 employees serving more than 500 clients throughout the United States and Canada. ADD Systems is a provider of a suite of software, hardware, and cloud-based products for back office and mobile software applications to help companies in the propane, heating oil, HVAC, wholesale petroleum, lubricants distribution, and convenience store industries manage all aspects of their organizations from accounting to inventory to service and delivery. The company’s genesis includes many interesting paths as well…
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  • DCC LPG Extends Global Reach to U.S.

    As a startup in 1977, DCC LPG launched Flogas with a single truck near Dublin, Ireland. The company, a business unit of the Dublin-based international sales, marketing, and support services group DCC Plc, has since grown to be one of the largest suppliers in Europe with operations in eight countries, soon to be 10. In April 2017 it expanded into Asia with the acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell’s LPG distribution business in Hong Kong and Macau. That deal closed in January 2018. And in March 2018 it arrives on these shores following the sealing of a transaction to buy a significant portion of NGL Energy Partners’ (Tulsa) retail propane business for $200 million in cash. That 10-state, midcontinent and western tranche includes NGL Energy’s flagship…
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  • PERC to Display Autogas Vehicles, Demonstrate Emissions Reductions at Work Truck Show

    Fleet owners and managers will have the opportunity to learn how propane autogas reduces a fleet’s emissions profile and its total cost of ownership during the 2018 NTEA Work Truck Show March 6-9th in Indianapolis. The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) will host an interactive activity with prize giveaways at its Booth #5591 that will help participants visualize the emissions reductions offered by autogas vehicles . “New emissions data is showing that propane autogas fleet vehicles are reducing greenhouse gas, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur oxide emissions compared to other fuels, and we have some things planned in our booth for attendees to highlight these impressive data points,” said Michael Taylor, director of autogas business development at PERC. “We invite show attendees to stop by…
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  • Rave Reviews For PERC’s Propane-Powered Modular Home

    (February 15, 2018) — Last month’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla. provided the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) and several propane industry stakeholders the opportunity to display a modular home fitted with propane appliances and hearth products. Tens of thousands attended the event, and thousands walked through the propane home. Jesse Marcus, PERC’s director of residential and commercial business development, pointed out that Nationwide Homes, a modular builder based in Martinsville, Va. co-sponsored the home, which featured a tankless water heater provided by Rinnai, a standby generator from Briggs & Stratton, an Empire Comfort Systems fireplace and fire pit, and a cooktop from Whirlpool. Sams Gas, a propane retailer in Orlando, provided propane onsite to make a live burn possible at the show….
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  • New Waupaca Terminal Memorializes Alliance Energy Services Employee

    (February 14, 2018) — Environs about Janesville, Wis. aren’t just the end of the propane pipeline anymore thanks to Mike Turner of Kansas City, Mo.-based Alliance Energy Services. No more drip, drip, drip out the terminus. There’s now rail and storage in Waupaca, Wis., 73 miles southwest of Green Bay, thanks to Turner’s eye for an opportunity to bolster infrastructure and better serve customers. Unfortunately, notes Mike Summers, director of marketing at Alliance, Turner, a longtime sales representative and acquisitions manager, passed away in February 2017 prior to the project’s completion, the victim of a vehicular accident. The Waupaca terminal is unofficially known at Alliance Energy as the Mike Turner Memorial Terminal, and it opened in time for the winter heating season service last October….
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  • The Petrash File: NatGas Task Force Report Released

    (February 14, 2018) – In April 2017, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) then-President Robert Powelson and the panel’s executive committee established a new Presidential Natural Gas Access and Expansion Task Force. The task force was charged with developing best practices and recommendations regarding natural gas service for so-called underserved and unserved areas of the country including, but not limited to, rural communities. The primary responsibility of the Task Force was to prepare an analytical report that: Studies current access, expansion and service extension policies for underserved and unserved areas. Examines the need for access and expansion including case studies and review of the barriers and obstacles to such access. Recommends potential mechanisms to address the benefits and opportunities for access and expansion…
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  • Marketers Scramble to Keep Tanks Full As Frigid Temps Blanket U.S.

    For many parts of the U.S., the second half of December 2017 was one of the coldest on record. This was followed by 2018 being welcomed by more frigid weather that held on, with only a few small breaks that allowed marketers just a bit of time to catch up. Although it appeared the fourth quarter of 2017 would replicate the previous two warmer-than-normal winters, as the year wrapped up cold temperatures that blanketed much of the nation prompted the industry to shift into overdrive in a way unseen since the polar vortex of 2014. In describing the situation, John Powell, senior vice president and CCO for Crestwood’s Marketing Supply & Logistics Group, said, “It is very challenging for everyone right now as demand is…
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  • PERC To Demonstrate Benefits Of Propane Autogas At Work Truck Show

    WASHINGTON (February 12, 2018) — Fleet owners and managers will have ample opportunity to learn how propane autogas reduces a fleet’s emissions profile and its total cost-of-ownership during the NTEA Work Truck Show/Green Truck Summit, March 6 to 9 in Indianapolis. “New emissions data is showing that propane autogas fleet vehicles are reducing greenhouse gas, NOx, and SOx emissions compared to other fuels, and we have some fun things planned in our booth for attendees to highlight these impressive data points,” said Michael Taylor, director of autogas business development at the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). “We invite show attendees to stop by the PERC booth, learn a little about propane autogas vehicles, and have some fun in the process.” PERC will host an…
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  • Russia’s Use of Energy As Weapon A Strategic Threat to Europe

    Many European countries rely heavily on Russia for energy, especially natural gas. However, Moscow has used energy as an instrument of coercive diplomacy since the early 1990s, and these countries face potential exposure to Russian gas price and supply manipulation, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institutefor Public Policy. Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the institute, recently discussed Russia’s use of energy to influence—and even coerce—European countries on the institute’s Policies Matter Podcast. Although it has not been widely successful to date in the former Soviet zone, Russia’s use of the “energy weapon” against Western European countries in various forms still constitutes a strategic threat that warrants close attention from policymakers in Washington and throughout…
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  • EIA: Household Costs for Fuel to Increase This Winter

    The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in late January 2018 that it expects U.S. average household expenditures for fueloil and propane will be higher this winter. Compared with last year, higher crude oil prices and lower inventory levels are putting upward pressure on prices for heating fuels, the agency said. In addition, forecasts for a colder winter than last year, which was one of the warmest on record for much of the U.S., are expected to increase heating fuel consumption. As a result of higher prices and higher consumption, EIA expects average household expenditures for fueloil and propane to rise from last year’s levels. Temperatures this winter, based on the forecast of heating degree days from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are expected…
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  • Secretary Zinke Proposes Lease Sales For Nearly All U.S. Outer Continental Shelf

    U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has laid out the next step for developing the national Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024. On January 4, 2018, Zinke announced proposed plans to make more than 90% of total OCS acreage and about 98% of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to be considered for future exploration and development. “Responsibly developing our energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in a safe and well-regulated way is important to our economy and energy security, and it provides billions of dollars to fund the conservation of our coastlines, public lands, and parks,” he said. “Today’s announcement lays out the options that are on the table and starts…
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