One Voice Blog

WPMA's National Convention & Convenience Store Expo being held Feb. 17-19 in Las Vegas, NV, annually brings together more than 4,000 petroleum marketers and exhibitors representing over 165,000 convenience stores. As always, the WPMA Expo will be a must-attend event for those within the retail-fuel industry. This year's theme, "Success Through Change," focuses on helping convenience store operators understand the latest legal and financial changes within the retail-fueling landscape.

Since the rise of self-service stations, safety breakaways have become a vital piece of dispensing equipment at thousands of fueling sites around the world. Safety breakaways connect the fueling dispenser to the hose, and perform a simple, yet important task – halt the flow of fuel whenever excessive force is applied while preventing personal injury or harm to the environment.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), price remains the dominant reason why consumers buy gas at a particular location. While this outcome may not be surprising, the survey does reveal that how consumers shop for that price is changing.

With this year drawing to an end, the oil and gas industry is facing a new set of challenges due to a variety of new regulations that were introduced in 2013. However, as long as fueling solutions professionals make sure that they are in compliance with these regulations, then they can continue to keep their operations going strong.

If going green is a focus of your fueling operations, then look no further than autogas, or LPG, applications. Autogas is a mixture of propane and butane, and this innovative, clean energy option leads the way in decreasing exhaust emissions.

Each piece of equipment within a fueling station carries out an important and specialized purpose. Collectively, this equipment must function as a whole to distribute fuel in the most efficient and safest way possible. This is why it is important to ensure you have all of the necessary equipment for your fueling station, and one critical piece of equipment is the fuel delivery coupling.

With another NACS Show and PEI Convention in the books, let's take a look at some of this year's highlights.

The 2014 NACS Show will wager on Las Vegas to attract more attendees than ever to the Las Vegas Convention Center as it plays host to petroleum industry insiders October 8-10. This annual exhibition brings together an assortment of fuel retailing and convenience professionals from around the globe – including major oil companies.

Fuel stations continuously fall victim to product loss from an invisible thief. The perpetrator cannot be apprehended or even stopped, but its methods are known. The thief is not a person or a company, but a combination of two activities: working loss and breathing loss. And while these losses of product cannot be stopped, the vapors associated with these activities can be managed.

In recent years, the EPA has started clean energy initiatives that invest in energy efficient and renewable energy sources. With the many different types of fuel, consumers can be apprehensive about clean energy options. They want to know, what is CNG? How is it made? Is it safer than other options?

Think about Earth's geography for a moment: a fast-running stream cascading over a towering cliff, a rolling hill cresting to reveal a speeding river below, or waves bashing against an island outcrop spraying rocks baking in the sun. Each instance is different but has the commonality of numerous moving parts working to produce an outcome.

The drive to find alternative energy sources for vehicles has seen a dramatic rise during the last decade. From electric to hydrogen powered passenger and commercial vehicles, the world has more options than ever.

A swing check valve is a common type of check valve that is designed specifically to allow product to flow efficiently at maximum flow rates. These general-purpose valves require no external power and have a simple design. In addition, they are easy to maintain and contain minimal components.

Safety breakaways allow hose systems to detach from fuel-dispensing units when pull forces threaten the integrity of the overall system. The result is the release of the hanging hardware (hose, breakaway device and nozzle) from the dispensing unit while simultaneously protecting the environment.

One of the most important features of a piping system is ease of installation and maintenance. But how is a piping system decision optimized?

As the year 2014 passes the halfway point, OPW would like to bring its readers an update to a blog post that was published in December of last year. The original post examined regulations passed in 2013 that would have a profound effect on those in the oil and gas industry.

Spill containment manholes are utilized to reduce water penetration and to collect any spillage from fill pipes. Typically found in underground storage tank (UST) systems, spill containment manholes lay flush with the surface of a concrete or blacktop slab and are generally one to three feet in diameter and extend to a depth of two feet below the surface.

Emergency shear valves are designed to reduce the risk of fire, explosion, personal injury, property damage and environmental contamination at fueling sites around the world. These pieces of equipment are installed on fuel-supply lines beneath dispensers at grade level to minimize hazards associated with collision or fire at the dispenser.

In today’s economic climate where businesses are placing an extreme emphasis on implementing cost-saving measures, the importance of fleet managers continues to rise. In turn, the importance of fuel management also continues to grow.

The Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 set goals and created mandates to increase clean energy use and improve the overall energy efficiency within the United States. Among these mandates was the promotion of utilizing ethanol to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil and improve air emissions.