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Feature Articles

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

  • Dead River Company Acquires Fortier & Sons Propane, Heating Oil Business

    KENT, Conn. (November 10, 2020) – Cetane Associates LLC (“Cetane”) is pleased to announce that Dead River Company (“Dead River”) of South Portland, Maine has acquired the heating oil, propane, and service business of Fortier & Son, Inc. (“Fortier & Son” or the “Company”) of Somersworth, N.H. The transaction closed on October 27, 2020. Established in 1950, Fortier & Son sells and delivers propane and heating oil to residential customers from its New Hampshire facility, which includes a 78,000-gallon propane bulk plant. Their service department performs heating and cooling equipment installation and repair services. Robert “Bob” Fortier, the son of the founder Robert W. Fortier, joined the business in 1976, and became the owner in 2004, upon Robert’s retirement. Bob viewed propane as the next…
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  • Inaugural “Clean Energy Hero” Award Presented To Greenville, SC Student

    WASHINGTON (November 9, 2020) – A student at League Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, became a real-life hero of sorts upon receiving the Clean Energy Hero Award from the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). The national non-profit organization, which promotes clean energy initiatives, surprised seventh grader Jack Kendrick with the award after he successfully petitioned his school district to purchase its first propane school bus designed for special education students. Propane school buses are proven to reduce harmful pollutants, including greenhouse gas and NOx emissions, which can harm young children’s lungs and negatively affect the local air quality. “Jack’s love of buses, and specifically propane buses, has struck a chord with all of us,” said Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of the Propane Council….
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  • Help Needed To Extend Alternative Fuel Tax Credit By Nov. 6

    (November 5, 2020) — Your help is needed! As you may know, the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (AFTC) expires on December 31, 2020. The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) is collaborating with a broad coalition of alternative fuel organizations to urge Congress to pass legislation, including a long-term, multi-year extension of the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit as soon as possible. The AFTC provides a 37 cent per gallon excise tax credit on the sale of propane when used as a motor vehicle fuel. An extension of at least five years will provide Americans with the certainty they need to adopt autogas as a clean alternative to traditional transportation fuels. To show your support, please have one person from your organization click here to sign on…
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  • DOT Approves NPGA Petition on DOT Cylinder Requalification

    (October 30, 2020) — The National Propane Gas Associatiton (NPGA) reports that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved NPGA’s petition on the requalification of DOT-specification cylinders by hydrostatic testing, also known as the volumetric expansion testing method. This action, announced by PHMSA in an October 30, 2020 final rule, returns the requalification period to 12 years. NPGA had previously identified an oversight by PHMSA as part of the agency’s development of a 2016 rule that changed 49 CFR 180.209(e), which reduced the initial requalification period for DOT-specification cylinders following volumetric expansion testing from 12 years to 10 years and increased the timeframe for requalification following a proof pressure test from 7 years to 10 years….
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  • Join WLPGA e-LPG Week, including Autogas Day

    The World LPG Association (WLPGA) is pleased to invite propane professionals from around the globe to join in e-LPG Week, November 2-6, Under the theme of “Bringing Energy to Life” e-LPG Week is an exceptional online event that includes a Keynote address by the Colombian Energy Minister, 11 speakers including five CEOs, academics, start-ups, industry leaders and suppliers/OEMs, sessions scheduled include Emerging Global Autogas Markets, Innovations in Autogas Applications, and the Transport Energy Mix of the Future, to name but a few of the topics covered, as well as a virtual exhibit hall, and business and networking opportunities. The event aims to gather the global LPG value chain to inform and educate key stakeholders of current developments, trends and investment opportunities throughout the global propane…
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  • Propane Miser Gives Terminal Operators Every Gallon of Fuel They’ve Paid For

    Compressor and pump manufacturer Corken (Oklahoma City, Okla.) has launched a new propane railcar unloading system that fully evacuates propane from railcars during offloading with up to 25% faster unloading speed compared to conventional compressor systems. The company notes that conventional unloading systems with a single-stage compressor abandon the final 230-400 gallons of propane in each railcar. “We are solving a real problem folks have lived with—getting that last bit of propane,” Steven Willoughby, global business line director at IDEX Advanced Flow Solutions (Corken, Liquid Controls, SAMPI), tells BPN. Conventional systems are unable to evacuate a tank below 30-40 psig during the vapor recovery process, he explains. Corken’s new Propane Miser, on the other hand, overcomes this barrier and achieves evacuation as low as 0…
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  • Propane Supply: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

    By JD Buss… Merriam-Webster defines this phrase as “a person who has failed or been hurt when trying to do something is careful or fearful about doing it again.” Another dictionary search placed the origin of this phrase in the year 1894. A 120-plus-year-old phrase may be the best way to describe the domestic propane distributor’s response to this year’s COVID-induced supply season. March 11, 2020, saw an end to the NBA season. In the next 24 hours propane conferences across the U.S. began to be cancelled. Within four days, most of the U.S. had gone on a lockdown. Then North America’s lockdown soon became a cry for the energy sector’s lockdown as well. CHAOTIC SITUATION Over the ensuing weeks, phone call after phone call…
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  • Propane Industry Strategizes For Upcoming November Election Outcome

    With the November presidential, congressional, and state elections just a few weeks away, the stakes are high as fossil fuels and their impact on the environment are discussed and debated in forums from coast to coast. As of mid-September, Democrat Joe Biden has been ahead of the Republican incumbent, President Donald Trump, in most polls for many months. But, as the country learned in 2016, the only poll that counts is the official election count. “Many voters who only have cell phones are never surveyed, there is a lot of misinformation being spread, and mail-in voting will be at an all-time high,” said Jeff Petrash, vice president and general counsel for the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA). “Much can happen in the final days of…
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  • Online Event To Discuss Commercialization Of Renewable Propane In US A

    (October 19, 2020) – Join the chief executives of Oberon Fuels and Suburban Propane for a free online event to introduce one of the world’s largest alternative fuel markets and first commercialization of renewable propane, or DME (rDME), in the United States. Suburban Propane, the Whippany, NJ-based fuel distributor, has made green energy a centerpiece of its corporate strategy with its most recent acquisition of a 39 percent stake in Oberon Fuels, an alternative fuel producer based in San Diego. The companies’ CEOs, Michael Stivala of Suburban Propane and Oberon’s Rebecca Boudreaux, originally met at an industry conference in Washington, D.C. and will be hosting the “rDME As A Pathway to Zero-Emission Mobility and Carbon Neutrality” event Thursday, October 22, 2020, from 11:00 a.m. to…
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  • Success As General Manager Started With A Career In Cosmetology

    A career in cosmetology is not the traditional route to becoming a general manager of two propane companies overseeing five offices, but it has proven be successful for Melissa Reynolds of Trace Propane Gas and Rogers Propane Gas located in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. “The customer service you offer in cosmetology is the same customer service you offer in propane,” Reynolds said. “You still have to put that same smile on your face and joy in your heart.” After owning her own beauty salon, Reynolds became a manager and then a supervisor for Regis Salons. With three young children, she began looking for a position with less travel and fewer weekend hours. “My cousin contacted me about a position that was open at the local…
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  • Supply Chain Logistics For Winter 2020-21

    With much uncertainty about wholesale propane supply in late spring as the result of COVID-19, the export situation, and other factors that all seemed to point toward a tight winter, the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) organized a series of four webinars to educate marketers. Held in July through September, the theme of the webinars was “Preparing for Peak Demand.” “These webinars highlighted the strong need for communication between retail propane marketers and all partners in their supply acquisition process, especially wholesale suppliers and transportation providers,” said Steve Kossuth, chairman of the NPGA Supply and Logistics Committee and vice president of global LPG supply at UGI Corp. (AmeriGas’ parent company). “‘Communicate early and often’ was frequently repeated advice when talking with experts from the supply,…
    Read More →: Supply Chain Logistics For Winter 2020-21

  • Join Today’s “Future of Propane Autogas” Online Discussion With PERC CEO Tucker Perkins

    https://www.bpnews.com/index.php/publications/magazine/feature-articles/2651-join-today-s-future-of-propane-autogas-online-discussion-with-perc-ceo
    Read More →: Join Today’s “Future of Propane Autogas” Online Discussion With PERC CEO Tucker Perkins

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