Propane prices climb as Quad-Cities diesel jumps 31.6 cents
Propane prices are running strong, LP Gas Magazine reports, and for anyone topping off tanks ahead of heating season that is the development to watch this week.
The propane run
LP Gas Magazine flagged a strong run in propane prices. No cents figure came with it, so read it as direction rather than a spot quote. For jobbers pre-buying supply before the first hard cold snap, a market firming this early in September could pinch margins if retail lags the wholesale move. It could also mean better netbacks for anyone who bought paper early. Either way, price your fall contracts against a rising floor, not last winter's average.
Diesel jumps
Diesel in the Quad-Cities rose 31.6 cents a gallon, per the Quad-City Times, with gasoline up 20 cents over the same stretch. That is a steep weekly move for a Midwest market. Haulers running the I-80 corridor feel a diesel jump like that first, and 31.6 cents adds real money to every Class 8 fill. The source did not say what drove it, so whether it holds comes down to what crude and regional refining runs do next. Watch the Group 3 rack.
Deep fryer fires
A propane-fueled deep fryer left running started a garage fire in Waite Park, Minnesota, on Tuesday around 7:15 p.m. Waite Park and St. Cloud crews knocked it down before it reached the house or a neighboring garage. No injuries were reported. The Waite Park Fire Department is reminding people to take precautions with propane appliances.
That reminder lands for operators moving into fryer and space-heater season. In Barrie, Ontario, a secondary fire made a propane tank on a fourth-floor apartment balcony explode Saturday evening, gutting the unit and displacing several tenants. No injuries were reported, and firefighters carried out a pet. It is a Canadian incident, but the safety point travels: the calls your delivery drivers get this fall will include customers running propane in places it should not be. A quick word at the tank could save a claim.
What to watch
Whether the propane run has legs once heating demand actually shows up, and whether the Quad-Cities diesel move is a local blip or the front edge of a wider Midwest bump. LP Gas gave direction without a number, so the next spot print is what tells you if the run is real. On the safety side, two propane fires in a week is the kind of thing that gets a local fire marshal talking to reporters, and that shapes how your customers think before they ever call for a fill.