Things are looking down, in a good way, in the propane market.
Propane prices continue moderating from record highs but remain higher than typical for this time of year, as the nation's energy infrastructure and companies tried to get supplies where they are needed.
Warmer temperatures helped in the Midwest. The retail price Feb. 14 was quoted at $2.479 per gallon in eastern Nebraska.
Nebraska's average retail residential price of liquid propane gas as of Feb. 10 was $3 per gallon, down from $3.36 a week earlier, and over $4 the week before that, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That was the lowest average price among a group of 11 Midwest states, but it remained more than $1 per gallon above what it was a month ago, and almost twice what it was at the beginning of the heating season.
More than 57,000 Nebraska homes heat with propane, about 8 percent.
The Northeast, Midwest and South, where propane heating is most common, have been suffering from record high prices because of a combination of factors, unusually cold weather, logistics problems, heavy use during the fall to dry crops and record exports.
Ginger Willson, director of the Nebraska Energy Office, said the Greenwood propane terminal was holding 63 percent of capacity Feb. 13, triple what it was just a couple of weeks ago. Inventories have rebounded, still below a five-year average, but better, she said.
"We're seeing prices come down a little," she said. "Propane in our terminals are at adequate levels and have been for about a week. ... We're hoping this situation is stabilizing a little bit."
In part, that's because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is allowing some increased flows in pipelines, which end up moving more propane throughout the nation's network and get some of the truck traffic off the highways, Willson said. Propane retailers' truckers had been wandering the nation looking for supply.
But the nation's propane supply remains low, and more blasts of winter cold would quickly send prices back up, Roy Willis, president and CEO of the Propane Education & Research Council, told the Associated Press.
"It's really a weather-driven issue — another prolonged cold snap could strain supplies and prices for the next couple of months. Winter isn't done with us," he said Feb. 13. "When stockpiles get this low, and you get below-freezing temperatures for a week to 10 days, consumption levels go up and up and up, and prices go right along with it."
National propane supplies were depleted by a late harvest that increased demand from farmers who needed to dry an unusually large amount of grain before storage. The colder-than-normal winter across much of the nation drained supplies further.
Willis said propane supplies have been replenished somewhat, helping lower prices slightly in the last couple of weeks, following a collaboration between the government and industry to move supplies from large propane storage areas, primarily in the South, into the Northeast and Midwest. Propane shipments from North Africa and Europe have also helped, he said.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska's 1st District recently called for Congress to investigate what has been a shock to those who need propane for heating their homes.
“Many people in vulnerable circumstances are being hurt by this price shock,” Fortenberry said in a news release. “Congress should determine the full causes of the supply and demand shift, and ensure that there is no market manipulation. The same old excuses won’t do — these are captured markets and many persons have no other recourse. Congress should also examine how exports are related to supply shortages and rapid price escalation.
“I recognize many local Nebraska suppliers are equally frustrated and are doing what they can to help people adjust,” Fortenberry said. He called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's allowing emergency emergency diversion of additional supply "a bit of good news."
Fortenberry said he and a dozen of his Midwest colleagues sent a letter to the chairmen of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Subcommittee on Energy and Power urging them to schedule a hearing to find solutions to the propane problem.
Fortenberry recently supported a measure that would prohibit the export of natural gas produced on public lands.