Guides
US propane, explained
How the numbers on this site actually work: inventories against the five-year band, the Mont Belvieu hub, PADDs, the winter price survey. Each guide is built on the same live data as the trackers, so the examples are real and current.
Prices and how they move
How propane is priced: from Mont Belvieu to your tank
Propane is priced in layers: a wholesale hub price set at Mont Belvieu Texas or Conway Kansas, then the cost of moving it by pipeline, rail and truck, then the retailer's delivery, tank, service and margin. That stack is why the price delivered to a home can run two to three times the hub price, and more when the hub is cheap.
Why propane prices rise in winter
Propane prices tend to rise in winter because heating demand is packed into October through March while propane is produced at a steady rate all year. Storage built over the summer bridges the gap, so the signal to watch is how fast that stored supply draws down, not any single weekly print.
The data behind the site
Understanding EIA propane data (what this site is built on)
This site runs on two EIA data streams: a weekly survey of residential and wholesale propane prices that runs only during the October-through-March heating season, and weekly propane inventories that run all year. Knowing which stream a number comes from, and when it updates, is the whole trick to reading the site.
Propane inventories and the 5-year average
Propane inventories measured against their five-year band are the clearest single read on how tight or comfortable the market is. When stocks sit above the band the market is well supplied; when they fall below it, supply is tight, and the rate of the move matters as much as the level.
The EIA Petroleum Status Report, explained
The Weekly Petroleum Status Report is the US Energy Information Administration's weekly accounting of the petroleum system, released Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern and covering the week ended the prior Friday. For propane it carries the four series that matter: stocks, production, imports and exports, and product supplied, EIA's proxy for demand.