Posted on 01/23/2014 9:57:57 AM PST by topher
(Reuters) - U.S. Midwestern states are scrambling to address a deepening shortage of the home-heating fuel propane just as another cold snap envelops the region, threatening to strain supplies that are already at historic lows.
Demand has been boosted by the combination of record freezing weather at the start of this year and a late, wet, record corn harvest last October and November, when large quantities of propane were used to dry out crops. Propane stocks have been drained and prices in the region are the highest since at least 1990.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
When you reach certain sizes of storage, additional National Fire Protection Association requirements will create an expense beyond your hoped savings. Also the cost of a large storage facility will have significance.
I think residential customers would find far more savings with a tank large enough for the worst winter and not enter winter with insufficient supply.
BTW, I have in the past and current design facilities in propane, ethane storage and terminals. I’ve done oil/gas/petrochem for a couple decades but most of my work for the past year has been propane/ethane in Mont Belvieu and Houston.
You are correct, I should have said salt domes. not mines.
Yes. I have! $2.199 was the cheapest. Others were $2.549 and $2.799. My friends in Jersey are in the $3.50 range!
Another Soviet style shortage. I expect a lot more in the future.
The Rio Grande Valley (Brownville/McAllen) normally does not have freezes. There is supposed to be a hard freeze for most of this area.
Northern Florida will have hard freeze. Central Florida (Tampa and Orlando) will have conditions where frost is possible.
The price of Florida oranges maybe headed up...
bump— thanks for that explanation..
Hush. They already blamed the farmers :)
About my saying salt mine instead of salt domes:
I was in a salt MINE years ago (that is probably why I said “mine”) and that is near Grand Saline, Texas. My college class went there. There was a room as large as a convention center main auditorium and the company held meetings in this cavern of a room. All the different areas where the salt had been removed were huge. There is enough salt there to last for 20,000 more years - Morton Salt owns it.
Didn’t the salt get there because there was an ocean there at one time millions of years ago?
Yep, Houston is expecting to ice up in areas.
School closings, delays or cancellations
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/feature?section=news/local&id=6270347
Hard not to laugh at it after living in Alaska for a few years. But they don’t know how to drive her if we get an 1/8” of sleet. If it snows, they often gasp in amazement.
Restricted ocean or lake.
But most the ice/snow should melt by Saturday afternoon at the latest.
Probably be best for everyone if people start a long weekend tomorrow and stay off the roads in the areas where rain/sleet/snow are expected along Southeast Texas and Southern Louisiana.
There are quite a few schools now closed in South Louisiana for tomorrow now.
I imagine wells will be shut in offshore with temperatures as we are having... Because of the condensation...
Every one in this country should have a way to stay warm independent from any public utility.
I agree. I think Texas should shut the valves on every pipeline at the border and use the energy here. As far as the last sentence, let them stay warm with their wind farms and solar panel farms. I know there is a solar farm east of Austin in Webberville, but the energy is too expensive for Austin customers.
So what did they do? Sell their partnership of the South Texas Nuke project and are trying to sell their partnership of the Fayette county coal fired power plant. Real DUmmies live among us in Texas. After all, they also closed a natural gas plant in east Austin. Too noisy for the "hood dwellers ".
Doesn’t barge traffic stop for the dead of winter in the Upper Mississippi? IIRC, the River can and does freeze.
If you have sufficient amps available dc, a buck-boost convertor can output whatever dc voltage is required with compensation for input voltage drop-off.
Cochin pipeline from Alberta out of action.
Don’t forget about Andrew Commo New York anti-fracking, anti-conservative freak state.
Come on now, don’t let them in on hydrolic fracking, let their so called “ Global Warming cold snap vortext “ punish them.
St Louis (MO) is having some very cold weather. However, the barges could make it to Memphis. They have temps in the 50's for the coming week...
Memphis, TN, since it is a 'transportation/package hub' (FEDEX and UPS) probably would have some facilities for handling the barges...
The EIA article talks about rail disruptions as being one of the problems, and wintry weather would impact truck traffic.
Truck traffic would probably be the fastest and most reliable.
To resolve this problem, the trucks should be on the end where you need to fan out for distribution, and rail/barge could do bulk transport to central points -- in a perfect world...
According to that article some schools have closed over the propane shortage.
Additionally, US DOT has waived rules for truck drivers carrying propane that they can drive as many hours as possible.
Article [updated Reuters]:
U.S. propane shortage hits millions during brutal freeze
Quote from article about relaxation of rules for truckers:
The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued emergency orders suspending the limits on the amount of time truck drivers can spend on the road for 10 Midwestern states and 12 Northeastern states, a rare regional order.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.