It's time to fill up your tank and be prepared for the new high price of propane, because the low-price propane party we have enjoyed over the last few months will soon be over. Word has it that the propane export terminal at Marcus Hook has just opened after repeated delays. This means that the abundance of Marcellus shale propane will soon become a propane shortage as more and more propane leaves the United States for the world market. More importantly, the United States will become a world supplier of propane, and start looking to match world prices, which now stand at $2.11 per gallon at the dock, here at home. These prices are not likely to come down in the foreseeable future.

The era of the insulated American propane market is over as propane is exported from every coast: facilities on the West Coast are being expanded, the Gulf Coast has expanded, and in Marcus Hook, the East Coast, is being expanded. This means two things: the propane tub is draining at twice the rate it is filling up, and because every drop of propane from the Marcellus shale is as likely to be sold abroad as here in the United States, the wholesale price of propane will soon be an international price, that Americans will have to pay like everyone else, even with our abundant supply. It's the only way to make the return on new wells high enough to keep on drilling for our energy independence. The producers will sell their propane wherever they can net the most money. The only reason left for producers to sell product at home instead of abroad is that they save some trucking costs and save some time. That means a propane dealer like Thrifty may have to pay up to $1.70 a gallon just after the propane is processed - before terminaling and pipeline charges - here at home.