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NE F I E X P O A Matter of Trust When diversification is the mission, technicians are the point men By Stephen Bennett "S ome people don't think focus- ing on energy efficiency brings dollars to the bottom line," says Craig Snyder of Wesson Energy in Waterbury, Conn. Snyder, a presenter in sessions on the "whole house" approach at the recent New England Fuel Institute (NEFI) Expo, used the occasion to tell attendees different. By adopting the whole house approach – diversifying beyond fuel oil and air conditioning to related lines of business – Wesson Energy posted 58 percent gross margin growth in four years ending in 2012, Snyder told the audience. Approximately 160 people attended two sessions on the whole house approach, said Bill Spohn, president and chief executive officer of TruTech Tools, a presenter along with Snyder and others. The Expo ran June 10-11 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Andy Black, president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) speaking to an audience at the New England Fuels Institute (NEFI) Energy EXPO in Foxboro, Mass. Mass., home of the National Football League's New England Patriots, and also included a presentation on the current and future importance of pipelines to the fuel oil industry (see sidebar). Focusing on "home performance" has made a "profound" difference to Wesson Energy's business and its future, Snyder told Fuel Oil News in an interview following the NEFI show. The company changed its name from Wesson Oil to Wesson Energy a decade or more ago, Snyder said, because "we knew ten years ago that we wanted to be in a bigger, broader world than just selling oil." It was in 2008 that Wesson Energy's transformation effort really began to take hold. "Prices were getting crazy," Snyder recalled, and compounding matters, the state government was formulating an energy plan that favored natural gas. At that point, The importance of pipelines "Pipelines are the least expensive, most efficient, and safest way to transport crude oil and refined products," Andy Black, president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) told an audience at the New England Fuels Institute (NEFI) Energy EXPO in Foxboro, Mass. "Pipelines are the most preferred option, with typically 70 percent of all crude oil moving by pipeline, and 70 percent of all refined petroleum products traveling by pipelines, nationally," Black said. Transportation markets need additional capacity, Black said, and the liquids pipeline industry has begun to respond with "new construction projects, reversals of flow, conversions from one type of service to another, and with pump station projects that expand capacity on existing pipelines." Black noted, "One pipeline project gets all the attention - Keystone XL." It would expand pipeline capacity southward "in a major way," Black said, bringing crude oil from Alberta, Montana, and North Dakota through Oklahoma to Texas. "It wouldn't be the first 16 pipeline to transport crude oil south from the Canadian oil sands, and it isn't the only project being proposed right now. But the debate about Keystone XL has grown beyond where it should. The Keystone XL debate should not be about whether Canada produces the oil sands or about greenhouse gas emissions, because neither issue would be affected by the issuance, or denial, of a Presidential Permit. To me, the Keystone XL debate should be about how Canadian crude oil should travel to market. "Right now, rail is filling in where pipelines cannot, and moving much more crude oil than ever before," Black said. If Keystone XL is not approved, Black said, crude oil from Canada will still come to this country. But if it is approved, he said, "more crude will move over the best mode – pipelines." He added, "I commend the New England Fuels Institute for supporting Keystone XL." Meanwhile, the potential reversal of the Portland Montréal Pipeline has drawn unjustified opposition from environmental activists, another speaker said. JULY 2013 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com "This pipeline has safely transported crude oil from around the globe from Portland, Maine, to refineries in Montréal since 1941," said Patrick G. Binns, Consul General of Canada to New England. Environmental organizations have been campaigning against a possible reversal that would allow diluted bitumen to flow to the Port of Portland, he said. "As a result, a number of cities and towns, as well as the [Maine and Vermont] state legislatures, have discussed resolutions looking to ban or oppose the transport of 'dilbit' through New England," Binns said. Binns said that he and his colleagues "have provided testimony to correct misinformation and to help towns and their citizens understand that Canadian oil can and will play an important role in New England economic development and energy security. Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S., Binns said, more than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. Canada exported 2.8 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined products to the U.S. in 2011, representing 24 percent of total U.S. petroleum imports, he noted.