(February 7, 2014 – The New York Times) As Propane Prices Rise, Worries Grow for Millions of Americans (By Alan Blinder)
EASTABOGA, Ala. — In the midst of one of the great natural gas drilling booms in the nation’s history, millions of Americans are struggling with a problem that is chilling their bones.
There is not enough propane, a byproduct of natural gas production and crude oil refining, to heat their homes and keep their farms running. Even while production of the fuel is up 15 percent over a year ago, inventories are now nearly 50 percent lower than last winter and millions of Southerners and Midwesterners who depend on the fuel are angry and confused.
Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/us/as-propane-prices-rise-worries-grow-for-millions-of-americans.html?_r=0
The higher price for propane is the consequence of three principal factors, according to experts, including the onslaught of frigid temperatures over the last two months that has led to a surge of demand.
The insufficient propane inventories have also been caused by the fact that five times more propane was used to dry corn in recent months than normal because of a bumper crop of wet corn at the end of last year – the result of excessive rains at the end of the growing season.
Meanwhile American propane exports exceeded 400,000 barrels a day for the first time last October, according to a recent report by the consultancy RBN Energy, helped along by booming domestic production and the completion of several port dock expansions. Propane exports have been steadily rising from just over 150,000 barrels a day in January 2012.
