A misty scene from Bar Harbor, Maine. (image: slack12 via flickr.com)
The early indications about what retail propane is going to do this week? Looking flat.
The Monday price survey is out from the Pine Tree State, and it’s got a nice ring to it: The propane in Maine remains exactly the same. Retail prices stayed flat last week, based on a 925-gallon burn, according to the newest report from the state’s energy office. That’s a better showing than heating oil and kerosene prices, which both continued their heating season increases in the state. Though flat prices slake the momentum of last week’s two-penny decline.
Optimism for the economies of the U.S., Japan, and Germany paired with serious question marks about the protests in the Middle East are supporting oil prices, the report notes. HOWEVER the weather is getting warmer, and there’s a big thaw in the forecast later this week, meaning thermostats could be turning counter-clockwise this weekend.
And if you listen to the numbers closely, you may hear a sigh of relief. This is the first retail report that could show the effects of last week’s blowout at the NGL storage facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas — termed “a major event” by one local propane watcher. If an explosion at the country’s largest propane hub gave anyone jitters about the supply line, it probably should have been the retailers 2,000 miles away.