24 NOVEMBER 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
By Stephen Bennett
T
he Southern New England Energy Conference,
sponsored by the Connecticut, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island associations, was first held two years
ago, noted David Chu, CEMA's member ser-
vices director. (The Sept. 22-23 event doubled as the 64th
Annual Meeting of CEMA.) Conference attendance from
Massachusetts and Rhode Island has grown, Chu said in
an email. Holding this year's conference in Rhode Island,
"we expected to see some attendance from Connecticut
fall off, but it was minimal," Chu said. With more than
250 registered attendees and vendors, attendance was 97%
that of last year when the event was held at Mohegan Sun
in Connecticut. The conference emphasizes education,
and extends beyond fuel oil to cover motor-fuels and
convenience-store subjects as well. A conference partner
this year was the National Biodiesel Board.
A variety of honors were awarded at the event. Six fuel
oil marketers and a fuel wholesaler were recognized by
their respective state associations for contributions to the
industry at the Southern New England Energy Conference
in Newport, R.I. The Connecticut Energy Marketers
Association honored Kate Childs of Tuxis-Ohr's Fuel in
Meriden, and Julie Roman and Dan Roman of Roman
Oil in Meriden as Marketers of the Year.The Connecticut
association also honored Joyce Porto, president of Inland
Fuel Terminals, headquartered in Bridgeport.
The Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association rec-
ognized two of its retail marketers—Howard Peterson,
Peterson Oil, Worcester; and Scott MacFarlane,
MacFarlane Energy, Dedham.
The Oil Heat Institute of Rhode Island honored Louise
Giguere LeBlanc of Giguere & Marchand Oil Service in
Blackstone, Mass., near the Rhode Island state line.
The Connecticut association noted that when Ace Oil
in Meriden went out of business last year, taking customer
pre-buy deposits with them, some legislators supported a
bill that would have created a "guarantee fund" to which
each oil marketer in the state would have been required to
Southern new england
energy Conference
Awards, education and insight were present in abundance
Left: Julie and Kevin Roman receive their Marketer of the year Awards from Peter Aziz Top Right: Kate Childs receives her Marketer of the year Award from Peter Aziz
Bottom Right: Joyce Porto receives her Associate of the year Award from Peter Aziz
