Grade: B. Need to purchase images, but content is in pretty good shape.
From Propane Brochure, Last Revised: Jan. 2008 (updated?)
How Crucial Winter Inventories Are Stored and Delivered
A Line of Propane Tanks
There are three types of storage for propane inventories (stocks) — primary, secondary, and tertiary:
- Primary storage consists of refinery, gas plant, pipeline, and bulk terminal stocks. Primary inventory withdrawals provide the second largest source of propane during the winter heating season, the largest source being production from natural gas plants and refineries. Propane storage facilities at the primary level are generally located near the major production and transportation hubs and consist of pressurized depleted mines and underground salt dome storage caverns clustered mostly in Conway, Kansas, and Mont Belvieu, Texas. The reservoirs are linked directly to the major natural gas liquids pipelines and are capable of maintaining high deliverability rates during peak demand periods.
- Secondary storage consists primarily of large, pressurized above-ground tanks located at approximately 25,000 retail dealers scattered throughout the United States.
- Tertiary storage consists of small above-ground tanks located mostly at residences and commercial establishments.
Propane Is Largely Transported by Pipeline
Giant Pipelines Inside Oil and Gas Refinery
The primary mode of transporting propane within the United States is by approximately 70,000 miles of interstate pipelines. The pipeline system is most developed along the corridors between production areas and petrochemical consumers along the Gulf Coast and the agricultural-industrial consumers in the Midwest.
The Northeast and South Atlantic States each are served by a single pipeline. The upper Midwest also is served by two lines from Canada.
Other modes of transport include about 22,000 rail tank cars, 6,000 highway bulk transports, 18,000 local delivery trucks, about 60 inland waterway barges, and several ocean-going tankers.
