Button Holdings readies for first propane rail terminal

Photo courtesy of Button Oil & Propane

Button Holdings, the parent company of Button Oil & Propane, plans to break ground in April on its first LPG rail terminal.

The terminal, part of a $2.2 million development project, will help the Mountain Top, Pennsylvania-based company meet its growth plans as it looks to expand its distribution capabilities – and geographical footprint – throughout the LPG supply chain.

“We are on a growth trajectory,” says Ryan Robbins, vice president of sales and marketing for Button Holdings. “We’re investing in more people and also more equipment and technology.”

Located in Point Township, just outside Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the terminal will open with three 60,000-gallon storage tanks. Fed by rail and truck, it will have the capability to offload two rail cars simultaneously. The design also will allow it to load two trucks simultaneously at 600 gallons per minute, according to the company. The terminal will serve Button’s delivery vehicles as well as those of other propane companies, which will be able to load through an automated pin system.

With few terminals in the area, Robbins says, Button hopes its new build will allow for lower consumer prices as wholesale rates decrease, benefiting the company’s customers as well as other propane companies and their customers.

Button plans to take its first delivery of propane this summer and begin wholesale and residential delivery by the fall, in time for the 2022-23 winter heating season.

Button Oil & Propane markets LPG, heating oil and a variety of distillates to about 10,000 residential customers and hundreds of commercial accounts. The company has expanded into other business segments in recent years, including transport deliveries, mobile fueling and wholesale fuels.