PRESS RELEASE: New Winter Fuel Storage & Supply Options For Propane Distributors
InSite Platform Partners announces winter fuel storage and supply options that propane distributors can take advantage of this winter.
[St. Louis, MISSOURI, April 21, 2020] — Insite Platform Partners, a tank monitoring software company that specializes in helping propane dealers buy in bulk and optimize operations, announced today that they have new winter fuel storage and supply options for propane dealers. With oil prices at rock bottom, Insite has quickly finalized and polished their newest product to ensure that propane distributors can gain instant access to their existing tertiary storage. Dealers who want to take advantage of this market opportunity and turbulent economy now have the option to use Insite’ s software to buy propane when prices are low, store it in tanks they already own, and re-sell when both price and demand increase.
In response to record oil production cuts, Insite’s CEO Brian Humphrey has stated,
“ Insite has an option readily available to help the industry fill its reserves to its fullest potential and allow energy distributors to alleviate future supply interruptions and pipeline allocations as has happened in the past.”
Since the dreadful winter of 2013/14 that all propane dealers will never forget, Humphrey has attended multiple NPGA board and committee meetings, as well as other events, which focused on US supply and how the industry might avert embarrassing supply interruptions in future years. According to Humphrey,
“ Wholesale suppliers in attendance were not optimistic nor could they offer any definitive resolution to the supply side issue … NPGA’ s Logistics and Governmental Affairs Committees had no readily available options either, but those discussed included modifying the 1929 Maritime Act (Jones Act), regarding foreign flag vessels in US ports, and relief through the Energy Policy Act to curtail export of natural gas liquids. Last was new legislation, but as revealed by NPGA gas export law and policies counsel, it could take five years to get through Congress. Even if it could be done, there are opponents to opening ports or to restrict free trade by closing exports.”
Recognizing that the front running solution to this problem appeared to be writing new legislation that could take 5 years to get through Congress, if ever, Humphrey decided to take action and develop an immediate solution for the propane industry. All dealers have customer storage they can use, so that is where this solution starts. According to the NPGA, the average propane distributor serves 2, 467 customers and those same dealers own 85% of their tanks. Statistics show that 42% of customer tanks go into winter with fuel levels less than half full.
This means that:
- Available customer storage for the average propane dealer is 986, 800 gallons (2, 467 tanks x 500 WC=1, 233, 500 gallons x 80.0% fill capacity=986, 800 gallons).
- If 40% of customer tanks went into the winter less than half full, each dealer would have 400, 000 gallons of tertiary storage available.
- By filling those ASME tanks prior to the oncoming winter, a dealer would likely avert supply interruptions and the high cost of product.
To put it simply, the more dealers who participate in the One-Tank™ program, the more control the industry has over costs, supply interruptions, their ability to sufficiently meet customer energy requirements, and their resiliency when facing long, harsh winters or unpredictable events like the COVID-19 pandemic we are currently in the middle of.
One-Tank, home of SkyTracker Unlimited, has redeveloped their product to improve reliability and cost, as well as developed One-Tank. One-Tank is the industry’ s first user-friendly way to utilize and manage tertiary storage during a time when bulk storage is needed the most. According to Humphrey,
“ We have taken traditional tank monitoring and flipped it upside down. Instead of reacting to a tank level, we can now be proactive by looking at the inverse number — the storage capacity. Using our proprietary temperature compensation algorithms and the One-Tank dashboard, we have created the first Tertiary Storage Monitoring Solution.”
For reprints or further information on the One-Tank Program, visit www.one-tank.com.
Jess LaCrew
2 hours agoOne-Tank has helped me to winter-proof my propane business by providing real-time visibility into my available storage. I now know how much total storage is available, helping me to efficiently route my bobtail trucks.
Brook McCann
4 hours agoNow I can be more proactive and plan for the winter ahead, alleviating price spikes and putting the extra profits back into my business.
Toni Welcot
3 hours agoI am enjoying all the benefits of remote tank monitoring, like
- Liquid level Notices,
- Reports
- Improved Customer Satisfaction
- Email & Text Alerts
- GPS Tracking
- Optimized Routing
- Back Office Integration
- Customer Access to Mobile App to Track Inventory and Consumption
- Global Connectivity